Treasure Planet: In the Shadow of a Dead Star
by Firefall Bangenthump
Summary: Amelia's victorious flagship sets a course for home, but a shortcut takes a turn for the worse when the RLS Lyonesse is stranded in orbit around a burnt-out star. After discovering a salvage team marooned on an ancient, mysterious ship, a malevolent force seems to prey on the crew's worst fears and darkest memories. Will Doppler's science and Amelia's courage be enough to survive?
1. Chapter 1

This narrative follows immediately from the events of _Renegade's Return_ , but I hope it stands up well enough on its own even if it does contain a few references to my earlier story. Special thanks must go to the very kind and creative Obsessive Imaginings, who gave me the seeds of inspiration behind this whole thing. Thanks also to William Whiting for the poem _Eternal Father, Strong to Save_ which I have enthusiastically plagiarised in the first chapter, to Disney (of course) for such a wonderful setting and cast of characters which remain forever theirs, and to you, dear reader, for sparing the time to read this.

* * *

The dominant sound aboard the Royal Light Ship _Lyonesse_ , proud flagship of Admiral Amelia and Battlefleet Cresentia, was not the rumble of the battlecruiser's powerful engines but the sound of saws and hammers hard at work. The reasons were obvious to anyone who surveyed the warship's long, sleek sides – her hull was scorched and scarred with battle damage, dark against the ivory white of her timbers. Her starboard side had clearly taken the worst of it, but her port flank also bore jagged wounds. Her sails were furled and a ventral mast was missing, reduced to a tattered stump protruding from her keel. But all three of her dorsal masts still proudly flew bright Imperial battle ensigns, and a long blue and gold pennant fluttered from her mainmast. Standing at the bridge railing, Doctor Delbert Doppler looked up at it and smiled wearily. The last few days – weeks, in fact – had been both draining and exhilarating. It seemed like years ago that he had left Montressor and embarked on his wife's flagship for a mission of scientific discovery, only for them to be diverted into pursuing a vicious pirate raider across two sectors and almost into Procyon space. The _Lyonesse_ 's current state was the result of their final, decisive confrontation with the enemy, but the flags that flew above him were final proof, if any were needed, that they had triumphed. Behind him, Amelia was in conference with a handful of the ship's officers. Doppler could feel the fatigue settling over himself as the adrenaline rush of battle wore off, but his indefatigable wife appeared to be completely unaffected and was as briskly businesslike as ever.

His attention was brought back to the main deck below him by the whine of a longboat's engine. A sleek small craft had detached itself from the _Lyonesse_ 's railing and was heading out into space, describing a long, graceful arc towards one of the three Imperial battleships that had come to the flagship's aid during the final battle. They had been running a steady shuttle service, bringing supplies in and taking the most seriously wounded victims of the action away. The cost of the victory had not been cheap, and Doppler tried not to look at the patches where the _Lyonesse_ 's noble white timber decks had been stained with splashes of dark red.

"Doctor?"

A voice caused him to look around. Flag-Lieutenant Aurora Mayflower, the ship's principal navigator and aide-de-camp to Amelia, had a chart spread out on a folding table and was watching him expectantly. She was a young felinid with bright lilac-coloured eyes, distinctive striped mustard fur and a mane of blonde hair that was currently much the worse for wear.

"Yes?"

"I think I've got a course plotted out to take us back to Montressor, but I'd be grateful for your review." Aurora smiled. "If you're not too busy?"

"Oh, no. Not at all." Doppler hurried over to join her, appreciative of the distraction. The navigation console, with its detailed holograph displays, was the normal way of handling the ship's course but it had taken a hit during the fighting and had been powered down for repair. Visualising a course through three-dimensional space using two-dimensional paper was harder, but Doppler had become accustomed to star charts and he followed the line Aurora had drawn in pencil across the page with approval. Amelia saw him nodding and came over.

"Something to report, navigator?"

"That course home you ordered, ma'am," Aurora said. "Assuming, of course, that Doctor Doppler concurs?"

"I do." Doppler agreed. "It looks like we could be home in as little as three weeks, depending on speed."

"That may be a sticking point." Amelia beckoned across the bridge. "Flag-Captain Rennier? A moment of your time."

The ship's captain, a monocle-wearing Benbonian, joined them and touched his hat.

"Ma'am?"

"Have you received a damage report from the Chief Engineer yet?"

"Yes, ma'am. Commander Vendross reports that the main drive is fully operational. We can replace the damaged sails easily enough, but the mast damage has our energy collection down to 75% at most."

"Three quarters speed, then," Amelia glanced at Doppler, who shrugged.

"Well, it won't change our schedule too dramatically. But what'll really determine how long it takes to get home is the weather. I'd give anything for a recent forecast."

"I asked our friends for one, but they've been in space almost as long as we have," said Rennier. "We could put in at a base or a trading post en route, though."

"The first one we'd come to is more than halfway back, sir," said Aurora. "Unless we undertake a major diversion."

"No." Amelia shook her head. "We've been off-station too long already. We'll take the direct route. Inform the engineers that I'll be expecting cruising speed."

"Very good, ma'am." Rennier nodded and moved away.

"Good work, you two," Amelia turned to Aurora and Doppler. "We'll be home before we know it."

"And not before time," said Doppler ruefully. "Do you think we should send a message ahead of us to Sarah Hawkins? She must be going out of her mind looking after our children. I told her it would only be for a fortnight or so..."

"I'm certain she'll forgive you," Amelia smiled. "Once she hears why we're late, anyway."

"I do hope so." Doppler sighed. "Still, she managed with Jim for years..."

"Precisely." Amelia's smile softened. It felt surprisingly good, if slightly surreal, to be able to talk about a matter as mundane as babysitting arrangements so soon after she'd been fighting for her life.

"You'll have an opportunity to make it up to her, I'm sure," said Aurora. "And we might get lucky with the weather and find ourselves a strong tailwind."

"We'll be able to refine the course as we go," Doppler added. "It may take less time than we think."

"I have complete confidence in you both," said Amelia. "And it'll be a few hours before we're ready to depart anyway, I should think."

She looked up as Captain Rennier called to her from across the bridge and excused herself. Doppler looked back down at the chart and chuckled softly.

"Something funny, doctor?" Aurora looked at him curiously.

"No...no, not really. It's just...after all that trouble...the chase, the battle and everything. It's just a little hard to believe that it's all over and that in less than a month's time I'll be sitting in my armchair in front of the fireplace again, reading to the children. I'll be able to take up right where we left off."

"What have you been reading to them?"

"Er..." Doppler looked embarrassed. "Irvine's _Introduction to Basic Physics_. I have quite a good library but it's rather...specialised."

Aurora laughed. "Well, just so long as you hadn't left them on a cliffhanger in a story, doctor. And I suppose that's a good way of ensuring that at least one of them turns out to be a great physicist."

"Or possibly a great navigator." Doppler smiled at her. "Though then again, it may sour them on the entire concept for life."

"Surely not." Aurora smiled back. "Anyway, you won't be waiting long to find out."

"No, I suppose not." Doppler looked out into space. "A few short weeks and then we'll be home, and it'll be like none of this ever happened."

"I wouldn't go that far," said Aurora. "And besides, plenty can happen in three weeks. Your adventure may not be over yet!"

Doppler laughed and he shook his head.

"No, no, I've had quite enough adventuring for a while, I think. So for quite possibly the first time ever, Ms Mayflower, I sincerely hope you're wrong..."

* * *

It was late in the day by the time the _Lyonesse_ was ready to begin the journey home. The etherium glowed a burnished gold as the light faded. Doppler stood with the officers on the bridge and looked back to where the other Imperial warships were already forming up into line astern for their own return voyage to their naval bases. Lieutenant Pike, the signals officer, was next to him with a telescope.

"Message from the RLS _Renown_ ," he called, seeing a string of coloured flags hoisted up the masts of the lead battleship. "Message reads: Goodbye, good luck and good hunting."

"Signal my thanks, and my appreciation for their help," said Amelia. "Though between us, I hope we won't need the luck."

"And that we won't be doing much hunting," muttered Doppler.

"We'll be ready for it, if it comes to it," said Rennier. "Well, then. With your permission, ma'am?"

Amelia nodded. "Permission granted, Flag-Captain. Take us home."

"With pleasure, ma'am." Rennier touched his hat. "Ms Mayflower? You may proceed."

"Aye, aye, sir." Aurora stepped forward and raised her voice. "Hands forrard to loose the headsails! Hands aloft, open all topsails and brace up!"

Doppler turned around and looked up, still fascinated at the sight of the topmen plying their trade in the ship's lofty upperworks. Small figures sprang into motion, spreading the shell-shaped sails and drawing them open to catch the solar breeze. He felt the deck vibrate slightly beneath his feet as the main drive powered up in readiness.

"Power translation steady at 68%," reported Lieutenant Macpherson from his control station.

"Only 68?" Amelia raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, ma'am. Engineering are still patching the main conduits."

"It should be done by tomorrow morning, ma'am," said Rennier.

"Well, it'll do for now," said Amelia. "Carry on, navigator."

"Come to starboard and steady on course one-two-six mark zero-three-five!" Aurora called. "Main engines all ahead."

Doppler instinctively touched a hand to the railing as the flagship's bow swung around. As far as he could tell, everything was in order, but Amelia's instincts told her otherwise as she watched the compass repeater clicked away on its brass pedestal and she glanced questioningly at Aurora, who caught her gaze and smiled apologetically.

"It's the auxiliary helm control, ma'am. It's not as efficient as the main was."

Amelia nodded. The _Lyonesse_ 's helm control had been one of the casualties of the battle and the jury-rigged replacement could best be described as merely functional.

"Course one-two-six set, ma'am," said the helmsman. "Mark zero-three-zero...zero-three-three...zero-three-five set."

"Set azimuths to neutral and hold steady on this course," said Aurora. She turned to Rennier and touched her hat. "Course is set, sir. We'll follow this heading until morning."

"Very good, navigator." Rennier nodded. "Mr Constantine? Dismiss hands and begin the watch cycle."

"Aye, aye,sir." Lieutenant-Commander Constantine, the tall Katydian first officer, saluted. "Stand the last dog watch! All other hands, dismissed!"

As the officers not on watch began to leave the bridge and the topmen climbed down the masts, Amelia joined Doppler in looking back at where the other Imperial ships were already hidden in the gathering twilight.

"A long day almost done," she said.

"Yes, indeed." Doppler took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "I can't recall the last time I felt this tired."

"Well, if you're still on your feet in twenty minutes, would you care for some dinner?" Amelia smiled.

Doppler smiled back. "I'd be honoured as always."

"Splendid." Amelia began to make her way off the bridge. "You'll join us as well, Flag-Lieutenant?"

"Ma'am? I mean, yes, ma'am." The navigator quickly hid her surprise, but Amelia was already on the stairs down to the quarterdeck. Aurora looked across at Doppler and grinned awkwardly.

"I'm not sure whether that was an invitation or an order."

"Take it as the latter," said Doppler. "I always do."

Aurora laughed. "I'm not surprised. I'd just like to run this course again in my chartroom, doctor. I'll join you shortly."

* * *

Amelia's stateroom had survived the battle more or less intact. No shells had come tearing through the side of the ship to spoil its cream-white paint, but some of the stern gallery windows had been shattered and wooden panels had been nailed over them to cover the gaps. Several light fittings had also been broken, and with the glow of the etherium fading fast into night the result was several pools of deep shadow around the room. Simons, Amelia's personal steward, had thoughtfully set out candles on the table, which he lit before silently retreating to leave Amelia and Doppler in private to begin their meal.

"I don't suppose you happen to know where my aide has got herself, do you?" said Amelia, glancing at the empty chair by her side.

"She just went to check something in the chartroom," said Doppler. "I'm sure she hasn't forgotten."

"No. We'll wait a few minutes." Amelia looked across the table at him fondly. "And how are you feeling now, my dear doctor?"

Doppler ran a hand through his messy hair. "Still tired. But better. The food helps. And it's really very sweet of you to be so concerned about me."

"You've been through a pretty rough baptism of fire," said Amelia. "I remember my first action almost as if it were yesterday. It stays with you. And not always in a good way."

"I'm fine, Amelia. I promise." Doppler reached across the table and took her hand. "And I hope you're all right, too. You did your duty. And now you're bringing us home."

Amelia looked away. "Not all of us."

Doppler thought about the bloodstains he'd seen on the flagship's deck. "Do you know how many we lost?"

"Thirty-six killed. Twenty more wounded so badly that we evacuated them. Plus around forty superficial wounds."

Doppler nodded slowly. "Well...it could have been much worse. And we gave better than we got."

"I know. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't dread writing those thirty-six letters," said Amelia. "I know I could delegate them to Captain Rennier, but that feels like moral cowardice. I'm the one who ordered us to pursue the enemy and I'm the one who ordered us to engage them."

"I hope you don't think that makes it your fault?" Doppler asked gently.

Amelia shook her head. "All a commander can do is give their crew the best chance for survival they can, and trust that they'll do the rest. I learned that from my first captain. But still, those thirty-six families deserve to know what happened from the person who made it happen."

Doppler squeezed her hand and opened his mouth to say something, but the cabin door opened and Aurora stepped inside. She took in the candlelight in the room and the way Amelia and Doppler were holding hands across the table, reached the wrong conclusion and began to apologise.

"I'm sorry to intrude, ma'am, I thought that-"

"Oh, hush, lieutenant. You'd better come and take your place." Amelia sat back and gestured. "Though I'm curious as to what detained you."

"Yes, I do apologise for that, too, ma'am," Aurora took her seat and smiled hopefully. "I was going over my more detailed charts and I believe I've found a way to shorten our journey home."

"How so?" Doppler looked up.

"The Fraser Current," said Aurora. "It's a bit of a detour, I know, but if it's flowing as strongly as it usually does then it could easily take half a week off our schedule. Probably more."

"I'd forgotten all about that," said Doppler. "Of course. It'll take us within three days' sail of Montressor. It was one of the reasons they built all the mines there – they thought the Fraser Current would make shipping the ore to the core systems easier."

"Well done, Ms Mayflower," Amelia smiled. "An excellent idea. Have you taken it to the Captain?"

"No, ma'am. I wanted to get Dr Doppler's input on it first." Aurora shook her head. "Particularly around what to do once in the Current and where we should leave it."

"I'd be glad to help," said Doppler. "But we won't be coming anywhere near the exclusion zone, so it won't be too hard."

"Exclusion zone?" Amelia raised an eyebrow.

"Er, yes, ma'am. You see, the Fraser Current feeds into...well, into a black hole." Aurora looked nervous.

"It's called Van Ryen's Point," said Doppler to Amelia. "The Current itself is the gaseous stream of a distant nebula that the black hole seized centuries ago and has been drawing into it. There were a few...incidents in the early days when laden ore ships from Montressor couldn't break free from the Current or stayed in it for too long and were lost. But a ship like this won't have any problems," he added.

"Well, you've navigated our way out from _inside_ a black hole," Amelia grinned. "So I doubt you'll have any problems with this. Do whatever work you need to do, then bring it to Captain Rennier and I first thing tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am." Aurora nodded her thanks. "If I can count on your assistance tonight, doctor?"

"Of course," said Doppler. "It'll be a fascinating exercise if nothing else."

"Will we be holding service tomorrow morning, ma'am?" Aurora asked.

"At 1100 sharp," said Amelia.

"I'm sorry," Doppler raised a hand. "Holding service?"

"A memorial service for the dead," said Amelia. "It's a tradition."

"Oh. Yes, I see. Naturally." Doppler looked down. "Um, am I allowed to be there, or is it more of a Navy thing?"

"I'd be glad if you were there, actually," Amelia said softly.

"Thank you." Doppler smiled with relief. "It would be a privilege."

"You stood alongside us," said Amelia. "It wouldn't be right to deny you your place."

Doppler looked away awkwardly again. "Well...I hope I did my part."

"You did more than that," Amelia assured him.

"I'm proud that I could." Doppler said. "How...how is the crew faring? I know a lot of them were new recruits."

"They acquitted themselves admirably," said Amelia. "I couldn't have asked for better."

"Yes, but I meant-"

"I know, Delbert." Amelia sighed pensively. "The truth is...that no matter how well we train our spacers and no matter how many drills we put them through...there are some aspects of spacing that you can't prepare them for. There's no textbook or exercise that can tell you how to deal with the loss of a comrade."

"The officers and petty officers will be keeping a close eye on the crew's morale," said Aurora.

"Yes, but you lost colleagues as well," Doppler pointed out.

Aurora looked down. "Yes...true. But you don't just stop being an officer. They'd have understood that."

"There'll be toasts to them in the wardroom tonight," said Amelia. "You have to remember, Delbert...we can't just stop being what we are. We have to get this ship and this crew home. There'll be time to grieve properly after that. Believe me."

There was a weight to her last words that caught Doppler's attention, and he was struck once again by the fact that his wife, whom he thought he knew so well, in some ways still inhabited a completely different universe to himself. Of course, she was right. But it was a harsh reality to confront, and Doppler felt his heart go out to her when he thought about how often she must have done so.

"Of course...you're right."

"Do you need any help writing your speech for the service, ma'am?" offered Aurora.

"No, no. Thank you. But I think I'd prefer to do it myself." Amelia gave her a sad smile.

"As you wish, ma'am." Aurora looked uncertain, but acquiesced without argument.

"You have enough work to do tonight," said Amelia. "Speaking of which, Delbert...I trust that you won't be too bored on the voyage back to Crescentia?"

"Oh, no." Doppler shook his head, recognising that Amelia had quite deliberately changed the subject. "I mean, I can still take some observations with the ship's telescopes. To keep my eye in, as it were. And if we're going to be riding the Fraser Current, I can take some observations of that – tidal flows, particle densities and the like. It's been quite a while since anyone properly surveyed the Current."

"You're quite unstoppable, aren't you?" Amelia grinned. "But still, I'm pleased to hear it. Well, then. I know the traditional toast for a Saturday is, 'for spouses and sweethearts', but for tonight I'd like to propose something else."

"Yes?" Doppler picked up his glass in readiness.

Amelia smiled. "Let's say...to a safe journey home."

* * *

Sergeant-Major Ko of the Royal Marines was sitting upright in bed, propped up by a bundled blanket and trying to read by the light of the lamp in her small cabin when there was a knock on the door. The grey felinid put the book aside with some relief and looked up with her pale blue eyes.

"Come in."

The door opened to admit a tall, lanky figure in a white uniform coat. Surgeon-Commander Eleanor Gray, the ship's Macropodian chief medical officer, was carrying a tray with a plate on it, and she used her heavy tail to close the door behind her. She set the tray down on Ko's desk and drew the stool up to Ko's bedside.

"You didn't have to bring me food, doc," Ko said, smiling as she put the book aside.

Gray shrugged and took her notebook and pen out. Mute since birth, it was her main way of communicating.

HOW DOES YOUR BACK FEEL?

"Better than it did, ma'am," said Ko. "Whatever you did to it, it worked."

Gray nodded with satisfaction. YOU CAUGHT A NERVE. IT WAS SIMPLY A MATTER OF PUTTING IT BACK.

"I'll take your word on it."

I WARNED YOU TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT MOVING.

"Well, armed Procyons were trying to shoot my head off, ma'am," said Ko. "Ducking seemed like the safer option."

Gray looked stern. DO I NEED TO REMIND YOU THAT I ONLY ALLOWED YOU ON THIS MISSION BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WOULDN'T INVOLVE PHYSICAL STRAIN?

"Turns out the Procs had other plans, ma'am," Ko grinned.

TRUE. Gray seemed to hesitate. MAY I EXAMINE YOU?

Ko paused. "Ma'am?"

TO CHECK THAT THE DAMAGED NERVES AREN'T MOVING.

"Oh...right. Of course." Ko went to sit forward, but a white-hot pain in her back quickly told her not to. She bit back a hiss of pain, but evidently not in time since Gray shot her a look of concern as she took the folded blanket away and slipped in behind her.

CAREFUL.

Ko looked at the note pushed into her hands and nodded.

"Sorry, ma'am," she gritted her teeth. "Moving's a hard habit to break..."

Gray frowned. HOLD STILL.

Ko closed her eyes as she felt Gray's hands under her shirt against her back. Despite the years that had passed since the shipboard accident that had broken her back and left her stranded planetside, it was still hard to remember her own limitations sometimes even with the walking cane that was propped up by her cabin door as a reminder. Gray's touch tested and probed and Ko braced herself for the flash of pain, but it never came.

"It's not hurting, ma'am," she said.

Gray nodded in satisfaction as she continued her work, her dark green eyes alert to any movement or pained twitch in Ko's face. The felinid's features were marred by a disfiguring scar that carved down her left cheek, but Gray's gaze was unflinching and attentive as she finished her examination. Ko felt her hands withdraw and allowed herself to relax as she heard Gray writing something behind her. A piece of paper was proffered by her arm and she took it to read.

YOU WERE LUCKY. I EXPECT YOU TO BE BACK ON YOUR FEET IN THREE DAYS.

"I don't think it's luck that saved me, ma'am," Ko smiled. "But three days? We'll be holding service tomorrow morning..."

OUT OF THE QUESTION.

"A lot of our casualties were from my boys and girls, doc," said Ko. "I'd like...I should be there."

I KNOW. BUT YOU RISK NEW NERVE DAMAGE EVERY TIME YOU MOVE. Gray touched a hand to Ko's shoulder, a simple, silent gesture.

Ko sighed. "I know...and I can't argue with you, can I?"

Gray patted her on the shoulder and shook her head.

"I don't mean to sound ungrateful, by the way," said Ko. "I know you'd have me out of this bed tonight if you could make it happen."

Gray nodded.

Ko turned her head as far as she dared to catch sight of Gray in her peripheral vision. The doctor was watching her closely.

"And...are you holding up, ma'am?" Ko asked quietly. Medical officers routinely saw things that were the stuff of nightmares, and Gray had never spared herself from the most gruesome aspects of her calling. Ko could only guess at how hard her friend had been working since the battle, yet here she was, come specially to check on her, dressed in what had to be a fresh uniform given the lack of bloodstains on it. "You look like you've been working hard."

Gray nodded and for a moment there was a trace of weariness in her eyes. BUT YOU'RE STILL MY PATIENT.

For a moment, their faces were so near together that Ko could feel Gray's breath warm against her cheek. The surgeon's features could best be described as 'handsome' rather than 'beautiful' but their impact at such close range was such that Ko was briefly dumbstruck. But then Gray seemed to remember herself and the moment passed as she got up, replacing the bundled blanket behind her, and picked up the tray again, passing the plate of food to Ko.

"Thanks, doc." Ko took it and looked up as Gray made to leave. "You...can stay if you'd like?"

Gray seemed to consider the idea, meeting Ko's eyes for a long second, before she shook her head slowly.

THANK YOU. BUT I SHOULD GO. I'LL CHECK ON YOU IN THE MORNING.

"Of course, ma'am." Ko watched her leave, and wondered at herself for feeling disappointed.

* * *

There was a chill wind blowing across the deck the next morning, making the sails billow and the ship's ensign snap in the slipstream as it flew above the assembled crew. Spacers in dark blue and marines in red coats stood in neat rows facing the quarterdeck. Doppler was at the bridge railing next to Aurora and the other officers, their hats off, as the ship's band played. The sound was somewhat compromised and Doppler wondered for a moment why until he realised that two of the musicians were missing. Even so, the voices of the ship's company rose above the music as they sang a slow hymn.

" _Eternal powers, strong to save,_

 _Whose arms do bind the restless wave_

 _Who bid the mighty ether deep_

 _Its own appointed limits keep_

 _O hear us when our voices cry_

 _For those in peril in the sky._

 _Divinities whose mighty words_

 _The stars and worlds submissive heard_

 _Who sailed upon the darkness deep_

 _And calm amidst its rage did sleep_

 _O hear us when our voices cry_

 _For those in peril in the sky._

 _Oh sacred spirits who did brood_

 _Upon the ether dark and crude_

 _And bid its angry tumult cease_

 _And give for wild confusion, peace_

 _O hear us when our voices cry_

 _For those in peril in the sky._

 _Our ships and crews of righteous power_

 _Our Empire's shield in danger's hour_

 _From toil and tempest, fire and foe_

 _Protect them wheresoe'r they go_

 _It is for them our voices cry_

 _For those in peril in the sky."_

Even as the last notes died away, Amelia stepped forward and raised her voice to speak.

"Our comrades are gone, but they are not forgotten. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. And we will remember them as we honour their legacy by continuing the great work for which they gave their lives. They did not die in vain. They died to protect others. They died in the service of the Empire which safeguards our homes and families. And the victory which their sacrifice won will stand as a greater epitaph than any words can ever express."

Doppler bowed his head and adjusted the black armband that he had tied around his sleeve to match those worn by the officers on either side of him. Amelia's voice was strong and clear, but the emotional power of the moment was not lost on him and he could see tears glistening in the eyes of some of the newer crew members as they stood motionless in ranks.

"For those of us who are left, the mission goes on," Amelia said. "And it is our duty now to bear our own burdens with resolution rather than regret. With determination rather than despair. With confidence in the justice and the necessity of our cause, and with the knowledge that the future which our comrades died for will be the safer for their having lived."

Suddenly it occurred to Doppler why the scene below was strangely familiar – of course, he'd heard Amelia give a speech in honour of a dead comrade before, when Mr Arrow had been lost overboard during the Treasure Planet mission. It had, by necessity, been a much shorter speech and he remembered how her voice had faltered as she spoke.

"Our task continues as it always has done," Amelia said. "A task that is never-ending, yet a task that is that much closer to completion because of the honoured and victorious dead whom our shipmates have now joined. We shall stand in solidarity with their memories and hope that our own examples will be worthy of theirs. Lest we forget."

The last three words were murmured in assent by the crew as Amelia stepped back and Rennier took her place.

"Ship's company to attention! Royal Marines, present arms!"

Like a well-oiled machine, the assembled spacers and soldiers stood rigidly to attention. Major Tansley, the ship's senior marine officer, drew his sword and turned to a squad of marines lined up by the railing.

"Guard of honour! Make ready!"

The soldiers raised their rifles to their shoulders, aiming them out over the rail into space. At Tansley's barked command, they fired a volley, the sharp crackling discharges making Doppler jump. Two more volleys followed before they returned their rifles to rest by their sides. A minute or so passed in silence, the only sounds being the sighing of the wind through the rigging, the gentle creaking of the ship's timbers and the whip-like retorts of the Imperial ensign that flew from the mainmast far overhead.

"Ship's company, stand easy!" Rennier broke the silence.

"Thank you, Flag-Captain." Amelia folded her hands behind her back. "You may dismiss the crew."

"Crew! Dismissed!"

"Well, that's that." Aurora put her hat back on and adjusted it to sit straight. Down on the deck, the crew broke up and began dispersing quietly back to work as Amelia began climbing the bridge steps.

"Haec omnia transeunt," said Doppler softly.

"I'm sorry, doctor?" Aurora looked at him in puzzlement.

"All things pass," Doppler translated. "I'm sorry, I was...thinking a lot."

"You won't have been the only one," Aurora smiled sadly. "Even if you were the most multilingual."

Doppler chuckled. "I'd hardly call myself fluent. Besides, it'd be hard to top that speech Amelia gave."

"I'm glad you think so," Amelia appeared behind him on the bridge. "One has to take these occasions seriously."

"I'm sure that nobody takes them more seriously than you," said Doppler.

Amelia met his eyes for a moment before she looked away and coughed. Doppler couldn't help but wonder whether she had also remembered the Treasure Planet voyage, but her expression was inscrutable and whatever emotion she had showed was soon hidden behind a mask of professionalism.

"Needs must. Now, then, navigator, have you presented your suggested route home to the Captain?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Aurora. "We've already changed course. We'll be joining the Fraser Current in approximately thirty hours."

"Excellent work," Amelia nodded. "Well, if you've got everything under control here, I'll be in my cabin."

"Very good, ma'am." Aurora touched her hat.

"Er, Amelia?" Doppler took a step towards her.

"Yes, doctor?" She looked around. Their eyes met again.

"I was just wondering whether you're..." Doppler hesitated, knowing that Amelia disliked being questioned so personally in the presence of her officers. She seemed to understand.

"Perfectly, doctor. Perfectly. I promise."


	2. Chapter 2

The Fraser Current was shimmering in the daylight. It resembled a diffuse band of fog, threading its way through the etherium like a terrestrial river. The _Lyonesse_ approached it confidently, the big ship's sails still fully unfurled. On the bridge, Amelia paced back and forth as Doppler calculated and recalculated the current's speed and strength, taking measurements with a telescope borrowed from Midshipman Collis.

"Starboard zero-two-zero," said Aurora. "Bring us parallel."

"Zero-two-zero, aye," the helmsman complied.

"Doctor?" Amelia raised an eyebrow at Doppler.

"Almost there," Doppler replied. "Speed four point one."

"Four point one, understood." Aurora nodded.

"I can't give you a particle density with this," Doppler waved the small telescope. "But it shouldn't matter anyway given the low relative velocity. Our sails will be able to contain it."

"So we're clear to merge into the current?"

"Absolutely." Doppler smiled. "Carry on. Er...I mean, if that's what you want, Admiral."

Amelia grinned. "You heard the doctor, Ms Mayflower. Take us into the flow."

"Aye, aye, ma'am." Aurora stepped forward. "Burn starboard thrusters for ten seconds. Lock rudder amidships."

Doppler felt the ship move slightly under his feet as it entered the current, a barely-perceptible lurch and slight roll. The masts creaked above them and the sails fluttered.

"Take her steady as she goes, navigator," said Rennier. "Some of those yards are still just jury-rigged into place."

"It'll be more stable in midstream, Captain," said Doppler.

"Half a degree to starboard," said Aurora. "Put the stern into the current."

"I'd suggest loosing the clewlines, sir," said Lieutenant Macpherson. "Reduce the force load on the sails."

"Very well." Rennier nodded. "Make it so."

"Current's strengthening, sir," said the helmsman.

"We're coming into the middle of it," said Doppler. "Stay on this course. Take it gradually. If we turn too sharply and the current takes us broadside-on..."

"Good point. Watch your orientation, navigator," Rennier said to Aurora.

"Aye, sir." Aurora nodded. "Stern down two degrees. Neutralise trim."

"What's our speed?" Amelia's pacing had brought her over to them.

"Stable at four points above cruising, ma'am," said Aurora. "The current is carrying us along nicely."

"There may be some minor variations," Doppler noted. "The particle density will change according to the winds and the temperature, and there may be localised anomalies. I'll be continuing my observations as we go."

"Has nobody surveyed this current before?" asked Rennier.

"Not in years. And I don't have those tables with me anyway." Doppler shrugged apologetically. "I'll be keeping a close record of my findings and I'll be sure to make them known to your officers."

"Thank you, doctor." Amelia folded her hands behind her back and smiled. "Well, ladies and gentlemen. This looks like our way home."

She turned away and looked astern, where the silvery haze of the current was being swept into new, curling shapes in the _Lyonesse_ 's wake. Even if Aurora hadn't told her, she could tell that the ship was moving more swiftly, more easily, the elements themselves carrying her along. The timbers creaked gently and the whole vessel felt somehow more alive and responsive. It was a feeling to delight any spacer's heart, and it was all the more so for the fact that she knew it meant they were getting closer to home.

"Admiral?" Doppler had appeared beside her, watching her expression. The breeze of the current was toying with her auburn hair, shifting it gently around her face. There weren't many moments aboard the crowded warship when he had the opportunity of simply admiring his wife, and he tried to take full advantage of them. Amelia smiled warmly.

"Doctor."

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Amelia laughed. "I was a million miles away...back on Montressor, if you must know."

"I thought as much." Doppler smiled back. "Though to be precise, Montressor isn't a million miles away. In fact, it's more like-"

Amelia waved a hand. "I suppose I should have known better than to use a metaphor like that in your vicinity."

Doppler chuckled and looked out at the ship's wake as well. "I'm sorry. That one was hard to resist. But you were thinking of home?"  
"Yes. Seeing it again...seeing the children." Amelia looked at him fondly. "All a step closer now."

"Ma'am?" Aurora joined them, touching her hat respectfully. Amelia returned the salute.

"All well, navigator?"

"Oh, yes, ma'am. I think the _Lyonesse_ likes the current. You can just feel how she's moving with it."

Doppler shook his head. "I don't think I'll ever have your instincts for this ship. Or any ship."

"Leave the ships to me and I'll leave the physics to you," Amelia grinned. "It sounds like a fair deal."

"It's stood us in good stead so far," Doppler agreed. "I'll be beginning my detailed observations of the current this morning. Mr Macpherson was kind enough to show me how to operate the ship's telescopes, and Lieutenant-Commander Constantine has allowed me to use the stereoscopic rangefinders."

"It sounds like you have everything you need," said Aurora.

"I'll be expecting you to keep an eye on the current as well, Ms Mayflower," said Amelia. "Any dramatic changes are to be reported to the officer of the watch. That goes for both of you."

"Understood, ma'am." Aurora nodded.

"I suppose that means I'd better go and get started." Doppler grinned. "If you'll excuse me?"

"Of course. Don't let us detain you." Amelia smiled.

* * *

Doppler was puzzled, a state of affairs that had only grown during the day. He stood on the forecastle, a telescope in his hands and a frown on his face. He took some notes on a piece of paper, tucked the telescope under his arm, and then hurried aft to the bridge. It was a measure of his distraction that he didn't even notice the spacers working on the deck with steam hoses, cleaning away the last stains of battle. Ascending the stairs, he headed straight for the navigation console and began studying the restored displays intently. Lieutenant-Commander Constantine watched him curiously.

"This must be the fourth time this hour that you've been back here in the last hour," he said. "Is everything all right?"

"That's what I'm trying to work out," muttered Doppler. "Something isn't making sense."

"Can I ask what?" The Katydian officer joined him.

"I've been trying to establish a baseline for the average particle density of the Fraser Current's central flow," said Doppler. "That means I have to study an undisturbed part of the current. I can't look behind the ship because of our wake and the engine wash, and even the disruption of the hull means that I can't look out the sides either. So I have to look ahead, but..."

"Yes?"

Doppler sighed. "Even that's not working. There are fluctuations. Eddies. I've tried correcting the telescopes, I've tried to apply spectroscopic filters to them...and..."

Constantine watched politely as Doppler's eyes slowly widened with realisation.

"Doctor?"

"Oh, my..." Doppler shook himself. "I'm sorry, Mr Constantine. I think I need to see the Admiral and the Captain. Right away."

"Well, they're both in her cabin talking to the engineers about the repairs," said Constantine. "So you won't have any trouble finding them."

"Thank you." Doppler left the bridge nervously, the paper clutched in his hand. The marine sentry guarding Amelia's door stood aside for him as he knocked and bit his lip waiting for Amelia's answer. When it came, he fairly burst into the room. Amelia and Rennier were standing at the big conference table with Lieutenant Kilroy, one of the ship's senior engineers. Blueprints of the _Lyonesse_ were spread out in front of them, marked with coloured pencil where they had been drawing on them.

"If we run a pair of coaxials through here, we can bypass the damaged relays in-" Kilroy stopped and looked up in surprise.

"Doctor?" Amelia raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

"Er...I'm sorry to interrupt." Doppler hesitated. "But...I've been starting my observations of the current and I think I may have something you need to know."

"Can it wait, doctor?" asked Rennier. "We're reviewing the damage repair plans for tomorrow."

"Um." Doppler paused. "Well...it's not urgent. But it is important."

Amelia waved a hand. "Go on, then, doctor. You have two minutes."

Doppler took a deep breath.

"I don't think we're alone out here in the current," he said.

Amelia blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I don't think we're alone. There's something ahead of us riding the current as well. You see, I was trying to establish a baseline for the average particle density of the-" Doppler stopped himself, realising that his complete explanation would likely be pointless. "Well...you know how our wake is disturbing the current?"

Amelia remembered the sight as she'd looked astern from the bridge and nodded. "Yes?"

"Well...it's not just the current astern of us that's disturbed. The current _ahead_ of us is showing similar signs. Signs that suggest that an object is passing through the stream."

"An object?" Rennier said. "You mean another ship?"

"Possibly. But it'd have to be...huge." Doppler waved his paper. "I'm picking up disturbances in the current across an arc of more than twelve degrees."

"Can you tell how far ahead it is?" asked Rennier.

"Not yet. But with a few more observations of how the current responds to disruption, I could probably make an estimate." Doppler scratched his head. "I just thought it was important to tell you now. It might be a navigational hazard."

"Quite right, too," Amelia glanced at Rennier. "Can you move us out of the central current, Captain?"

"Yes, ma'am. But the current draws everything into the middle. We'd have to fight it with the rudder and engines," said Rennier.

"How long will it take you to gather enough data to estimate the distance to the object ahead of us?" Amelia turned back to Doppler.

"Er...perhaps two hours? Or maybe three? It'll get harder once it gets darker and the light is already fading," said Doppler.

"Then station a lookout on the fo'c'sle with a glass and rig spotlight lanterns athwart the bowsprit, Captain," said Amelia. "I don't want any nasty surprises in the dark."

"Aye, ma'am." Rennier concurred. "Shall we reduce speed?"

"If you think it necessary, if the lanterns don't give sufficient forward visibility," Amelia nodded. "But we may be glad of having a bit of headway on the ship, depending on just what it is. Ensure that the officers of the watch are suitably informed of the situation."

Rennier nodded. "Naturally, Admiral."

"Is there anything further, doctor?" Amelia asked.

"No. Not for now, anyway." Doppler shook his head. "I'll go and continue those observations."

"I think you had better," Amelia agreed. She turned her attention back to the discussion with Rennier and Kilroy and tried to concentrate, but curiosity had always been a defining feature of felinids and there was a part of her mind that, no matter how firmly she focused, found itself straying into swirling current outside the windows and wondering what manner of presence was out there.

* * *

Ko was sitting on the edge of her bed. Gray was standing by her door, holding Ko's walking cane, and looking dubious.

ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO TRY THIS?

"Absolutely, ma'am. I'm done with being bedridden." Ko flexed her feet. "I feel bloody useless like this."

YOU STILL NEED REST.

"I'm not going to be running laps of the deck or anything," said Ko. "Just...being up on deck would be enough. Or being able to get my own meals from the mess."

FINE. Gray relented and handed over the cane. SLOWLY.

Ko nodded and went to stand up, leaning heavily on the cane. There were small twinges of pain in her damaged back, but she gritted her teeth against them until one particularly bad jolt made her hiss under her breath. Gray was by her side in an instant, an arm going protectively around her waist and the other to her shoulder.

"I'm...fine, ma'am," Ko took a deep breath. "Really."

Gray nodded and passed her a note. LEAN ON ME.

"Yeah..." It occurred to Ko that she hadn't seen Gray write that one, and that it must have been prepared before she even entered the cabin. "Wait, doc, how did you-"

Gray took the note back and turned it over. The other side read, BECAUSE YOU'RE AS STUBBORN AS A MULE.

"Takes one to know one," Ko grinned. Gray rolled her eyes but didn't argue as she kept helping Ko to stand, keeping an eye on the sergeant-major's face all the while. Ko finally breathed out gratefully as she stood upright again.

"That's better. Thanks, doc."

Gray let her go and picked up her notepad and pencil again. PAIN?

"Not really...more stiffness, but that's probably because I've been bone-idle for days." Ko shook her head.

Gray nodded. WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

"The fo'c'sle maybe? I could do with some fresh air. Why do you ask?"

BECAUSE I'M GOING WITH YOU.

"You really don't have to." Ko smiled. "Not that that'll stop you, though, right?"

Gray raised an eyebrow. I SUGGEST WE GO TO THE MESS FIRST. YOU MAY NOT BE READY TO TAKE THE STAIRS UP TO THE MAIN DECK.

"Whatever you say, ma'am..."

Gray put her arm supportively around Ko's waist again and looked down at her. The tall Macropodian was surprisingly strong for her slender frame and she didn't seem to mind having to take part of Ko's weight.

DAMN RIGHT.

She turned and began steering their way towards the door.

* * *

Doppler was pacing the bridge the next morning, a telescope in one hand and his notebook in the other. Aurora, who was on the morning watch, followed him with her eyes, her hands cupped around a mug of hot tea brought to her by Midshipman Delane.

"You seem agitated, doctor," she said. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yes, yes." Doppler nodded and brushed off an offer of his own mug of tea from Delane. "No. I mean, no thank you."

"It's not really necessary for you to be here, you know," Aurora went on. "I can always send a message to you if we see anything."

"I appreciate the thought, but I'd really rather prefer to wait and see." Doppler put his telescope to his eye, tried to focus it, and sighed. He lowered the instrument and looked forward to where the the two large bullseye lanterns that had been rigged one on either side of the long bowsprit were still projecting their beams ahead of the ship. With dawn suffusing the etherium they had been planned to be brought in, but Aurora had ordered them left in place and burning because of a dense mist that had surrounded the ship during the night.

"If only we could see better," he murmured.

"A passing cloudbank was drawn into the current at about 0230 this morning," said Aurora, joining him in looking out at the shifting fog around them.

"Yes, I saw." Doppler fiddled with the lens of the telescope and gave up.

"You saw? Have you slept at all tonight, doctor?" Aurora looked concerned.

"Not really, no." Doppler sighed again and rubbed his eyes. "According to my calculations, we should be coming up on whatever object was disturbing the current ahead of us. And I'd rather like to be here when we do...just in case."

"Just in case what?" Aurora smiled kindly. "Truly, doctor, I appreciate your concern, but if there's any kind of problem then you really can leave it to us."

"I don't doubt your ability," said Doppler. "I just...oh, I don't know. Call it scientific curiosity."

"Well, I suppose I can understand that." Aurora sipped her tea. "So you really think there's something out there?"

Doppler looked at her over the top of his glasses like an old schoolmaster. "You've seen the numbers, Aurora. Don't you?"

"I must admit that I can't come up with an alternative hypothesis," said Aurora. "But I don't think it's another ship."

"What do you think it is?"

The navigator shrugged. "I'm not sure. An asteroid, perhaps? Or a comet? But it's too big to be another ship. Nobody builds ships that size, not even the Arcturians."

"Oh. Good." Doppler seemed to relax. "I actually feel a little better for knowing that."

"You were really worried about it being some giant mysterious alien ship?" Aurora grinned. "You've quite an active imagination there, doctor."

Doppler sighed once more and went to join her at the navigational console. "What's the current strength like?"

"It's dropped by zero point six," said Aurora, turning to the displays.

"We must be getting closer," muttered Doppler. "We're right in its wake now."

"Still nothing on any of the optical scopes," Aurora looked at her screens. "Mr Delane, have the lookouts reported anything?"

"Nil contacts, ma'am," said Delane.

"In that case, let's reduce speed a little." Aurora nodded to Delane. "Hands aloft to reef royals, Midshipman."

"Aye, ma'am!" Delane left the bridge, calling out orders. Doppler watched as spacers began nimbly climbing the rigging towards the heights, where they began furling the ship's uppermost sails. The sound of the engines changed as the power reduced and Aurora nodded in satisfaction.

"I'm not sure how pleased the Admiral will be that we're reducing speed, but we can't take risks in conditions like this," she remarked.

"I'm certain she'd agree," said Doppler. "Better to be late than...well, late, I suppose."

Aurora laughed. "I think you'd get a unanimous vote on that. Huh...that's strange..."

"What is it?" Doppler looked over her shoulder.

"We're still decelerating." Aurora reached out and touched a control. "The windspeed is falling and we're losing power."

"Losing power?" Doppler looked up at the sails, and even he could see that the glowing trails of energy coursing through them were fading. Aurora stepped past him and raised her voice.

"Hands aloft, avast reefing! Reopen royals! Set moonrakers and skysails!"

"Ma'am?" Delane, who had been returning to the bridge, hesitated.

"Do it now, Mr Delane! Right now!" Aurora returned to the console. As she watched the displays, the look on her face changed from irritation to confusion to something approaching fear.

"Au...Aurora?" Doppler felt his own nerves rising as the seriousness of the situation became clear.

"Moonrakers and skysails open, ma'am!" Delane called.

"And the power's still falling," Aurora muttered. "Set studsails, Mr Delane. And pass word for the Admiral and the Captain immediately."

"Aye, ma'am!"

"What's happening?" Doppler was hovering nervously, hating the feeling of being unable to contribute to what was clearly an emergency.

"We've got practically every sail open," said Aurora. "We should be drawing in as much power as the ship can take. But look – the power's dropping. We're down fifty percent – sixty percent – sixty five – and still falling."

"What could be causing that?" Doppler looked up and saw the glow flickering in the white sails. "Some kind of mechanical problem?"

"No. It's because we've lost the wind for some reason." Aurora shook her head and crossed the bridge to the damage control console. "Look – all the mast capacitors are functioning like they should be, but they're all losing power. This isn't something in the _Lyonesse_ , doctor. It's something in the current. Something is stopping the solar breeze from reaching our sails."

Doppler had a sick feeling in his stomach. "Oh, no..."

"Report, lieutenant," Rennier arrived on the bridge, still buttoning up his uniform coat.

Aurora touched her hat. "The wind is dying down, sir. We've got major power loss across all systems. I've opened all available sail."

"Very good." Rennier surveyed the displays grimly. "Engine power?"

"Down three-quarters, sir."

"Contact engineering and divert energy from nonessential systems to the drives," said Rennier. "We have to maintain headway. I don't want us drifting helplessly in this fog."

"Right away, sir." Aurora moved off. Doppler stayed behind anxiously.

"Is...is there anything I can do to help, Captain?"

"Figure out what the hell is causing this," said Rennier, still studying the displays in front of him. "And fast."

"Captain? Ms Mayflower?" Amelia was striding towards them, her face grim. "What's happening?"

"We've lost the solar wind, ma'am," Rennier shook his head. "Power is failing right across the ship."

"Engineering are on full alert, sir," Aurora returned. "Commander Vendross is reporting voltage shortfalls in all the main conduits."

"Engine status?"

"Twenty percent power, sir. And falling, though more slowly now."

"Good. Keep the ship stable, navigator, and maintain power to the rudders." Rennier nodded. "Steady as she goes."

"Aye, sir." Aurora touched her hat and hurried back to her console.

"What could be stopping the wind like this, doctor?" Amelia looked at Doppler sternly.

"Er...well, I...I'm not sure." Doppler scratched his head. "I mean, there are areas of space that are known for having little to no solar breeze. The doldrums, as they're called. But I'm not aware of any even close to our current location."

"What else could it be?"

"Well, there are some local phenomena that can block the stellar wind," said Doppler, frowning in thought. "I mean...things like a nova cause a temporary deadzone. Or particularly powerful magne-"

"Contact ahead! Contact sighted!" A lookout's shout cut him off. Doppler's head turned along with Amelia's and Rennier's as they looked. Through the fog, a shape was resolving itself. A dully-glowing sphere loomed out of the mist, so large that it seemed to block half the forward view.

"Oh, my..." Doppler stared.

Amelia's first reaction was more practical. "Take evasive action, Ms Mayflower!"

"We're still drifting towards it, ma'am!" shouted Aurora. "Engine power down to ten percent!"

"Is it a planet?" Rennier muttered.

Doppler shook his head. "No. It's too massive for that."

"Can you get us into orbit?" Amelia looked at Aurora, who nodded.

"Y...yes, ma'am..."

"Good. Then do it." Amelia glared at it.

Doppler moved over and stood behind Aurora, looking past her shoulder as she frantically calculated the manoeuvres needed to pull into the sphere's orbit. Her hands were flying over the controls, but Doppler was able to read some of the displays as she worked.

"My heavens...look at the gravitational field...the mass of that thing..."

"I know." Aurora looked up. "Helm! Come to port, zero-one-niner mark negative one-four!"

Doppler got out of the way. Remembering his telescope, he raised it to his eye and began scanning the looming sphere. It was a dull silvery-grey colour, appearing to have some internal glow of its own. Patterns that almost suggested clouds appeared and disappeared on its surface.

"What are you..." he murmured.

"Orbit set, ma'am!" Aurora called. "Altitude five hundred metres."

"Very good, lieutenant." Amelia acknowledged. "Are we stable?"

"Yes, ma'am. Orbital velocity is consistent." Aurora took off her hat and ran a shaky hand through her blonde hair. "But there's no wind at all now. We're completely becalmed."

"Have you any idea what that thing is, doctor?" asked Rennier.

"I..." Doppler hesitated. "I'm not sure. But I think..."

"Any theory would be welcome at this point," said Amelia.

Doppler nodded. "Yes, of course...well...I think it's...I think it's a star."

* * *

"A star?"

Amelia stood at the head of the conference table in her stateroom, arms folded. Doppler, standing at the other end, coughed and looked at the assembly of officers now watching him.

"Yes. Or rather, it used to be. It's a stellar remnant. I think it could be what we call an orphan core."

"You may have to explain the technical terms, doctor," Amelia smiled.

"Ah. Of course. Well." Doppler straightened his ascot and cleared his throat. Amelia tried not to hide her grin as he so obviously went into his 'university lecturer' mode and began addressing her officers as if they were a class of second-years.

"As I'm sure you know, as a star ages it swells as its chemical composition changes due to the depletion of its hydrogen levels through the process of nuclear fusion. This causes the core to contract and the star's outer layers are blown off to form a planetary nebula. Which, of course, has nothing to do with planets. But anyway, the point is that under certain theoretical conditions the violence of the eruptions can knock the star out of its own spatial fix and send it wandering alone through the etherium. And over time, the outer layers of the star can be shed altogether, leaving nothing behind but the cooling core."

"Hence the term, 'orphan core', I suppose," said Rennier.

"Quite so. I mean, yes, Captain." Doppler nodded. "It's possible that it's the remnant of the star which formed the nebula that was drawn into the Fraser Current. Or maybe it wandered into the current and was captured. I'd have to complete a spectroscopic analysis to compare the elemental composition of the core and the nebula material in the current."

"There'll be time for that later," said Amelia. "Have you any idea why we lost the solar wind?"

Doppler paused before replying. "Well, it's probably the orphan core. You see, a stellar core can generate extremely powerful magnetic forces and it's been proven that such forces can block or distort the astral breeze. Planets only keep their atmospheres because their magnetic fields prevent the solar wind from eroding it and blowing it into space. I'd need to measure it, of course, but I'd wager that this core is highly magnetically active."

"Does that mean we're stuck here?" said Macpherson.

"Not necessarily." Doppler shook his head. "The magnetic field would be in constant flux. It could change so that the wind can reach us again and we can escape. I just can't say when that could happen. I'd need to take some more observations, and I'll need to operate the ship's magnetometers to measure the field."

"How long will it take?"

"I don't know." Doppler said truthfully. "Every star is different, and nobody has ever studied an orphan core up close before. I'm sorry."

Amelia looked at the ship's chief engineer. "What's our power situation like?"

"It's not ideal, ma'am," said Vendross. "Even with all our sails open we're only drawing enough power to maintain a few essential systems like artificial gravity."

"And the engines?" asked Rennier.

"We've still got the manoeuvring thrusters, sir," Vendross said. "But the main drives are inoperable even if we divert everything we've got into them. It's everything we can do to keep the reaction chambers warm so they don't go into cold shutdown. There's not much power left over."

"Make sure the astrophysical instruments are operational," said Amelia. "Take power from anywhere you need it. We'll rig hurricane lamps for light if we have to. But we need answers about this core."

"Yes, ma'am," Vendross nodded.

"If we minimise daytime use, we can store some additional power in the capacitors," said Kilroy.

"Good." Amelia sat back. "Make it so. Inform Dr Doppler as soon as the scientific sensors are available. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen."

The assembly broke up, the officers filing out of the room. Doppler stayed behind for a moment, gathering his notes until he looked up. Aurora was lingering hesitantly.

"Er..." he began.

"Ms Mayflower?" Amelia cocked an eyebrow.

"I was wondering...whether there was anything I could do to help." Aurora gave a small smile. "With your observations of the core."

"Oh. Well, yes. Of course. Your assistance would be invaluable," said Doppler. "I'm sorry, I should have asked."

"No, no. It's the least I can do." Aurora's smile flickered again as she looked down. "Since it was my bright idea to take the Fraser Current in the first place, which is why we're stuck here now."

"I don't hold you responsible, lieutenant." Amelia put a hand on the younger felinid's shoulder comfortingly. "It was a good idea."

"So it seemed at the time, ma'am." Aurora barely met her eyes. "Anything I can do to help, I'll do."

Doppler stepped closer and opened his mouth to add his own reassurances when there was a hurried knock on the door. Amelia looked up sharply.

"Come!"

"Captain's respects, ma'am," Midshipman Collis put his head around the door. "The lookouts have sighted something else in orbit around the core. You're needed on the bridge."

"I'm on my way, Mr Collis." Amelia nodded. "You as well, navigator. And you, doctor. What's the sighting?"

"Er." Collis looked uncertain. "That's the thing, ma'am. It's another ship."

"Imperial?"

"Well..."

"Pirate?" Doppler's blood ran cold. "Procyon?"

"No, sir. It's...it's not like anything." Collis looked helpless. "You'd better come and see for yourself..."


	3. Chapter 3

It was hard to even recognise it as a ship. Doppler, a telescope to his eye, could only stare at it. It looked like it was slightly smaller than the _Lyonesse,_ though there were no details he could identify to use as a scale. It was roughly conical, with no masts, sails or open decks. It seemed to be composed of a number of segments, strangely-shaped and stuck together in no recognisable sequence. Even though it was backlit by the dull silver glow of the dead star's core, he could see that its had no lights and its dark surface appeared to be slightly pitted and stained with patches resembling verdigris on ancient copper.

"What in all the worlds is that?" he murmured.

"Nothing I've ever seen," said Rennier. "Mr Constantine?"

"No clues in any of the ship recognition books, sir," said Constantine.

"Any signals, Mr Pike?"

"No, sir." Pike shook his head. "At least...I don't think so. I'm not even sure what to look for."

"Is it manoeuvring at all?" asked Amelia.

"No, ma'am," said Aurora. "She's steady on a polar orbit around the core. We'll be intersecting with her in about ten minutes at this speed."

"Shall we clear for action, Admiral?" Rennier looked to her.

"No." Amelia shook her head. "Not yet, anyway."

"Are you sure it's not a threat?" said Doppler. "I mean, have you ever seen anything like it?"

"As a matter of fact, I have," said Amelia. She looked at him knowingly. "And so have you."

"What? Where?" Doppler raised his telescope again and racked his brain, trying to fit the unknown ship's shapes into his memory. And then it clicked. "Oh, my...of course. You're right. Treasure Planet..."

Suddenly the oddly-shaped segments seemed very familiar. The strange, organic curves, the illogical forms and smooth features – it was like a much larger version of the tower in which they had sheltered from John Silver's pirates on Treasure Planet. It had taken Doppler a while to realise it as the ship was arranged horizontally rather than vertically, but there was no denying the similarities.

"You know whose ship it is, ma'am?" said Rennier.

"Whose it _was_ ," said Amelia. "Can you bring us alongside, Ms Mayflower?"

"Aye, ma'am," Aurora blinked in surprise. "Starboard bow thrusters, helm. Turn to port zero-five-seven degrees."

"So what kind of a ship is it, ma'am?" said Constantine. "It looks...old."

"Yes. It would be," said Doppler. "Older than you can imagine."

"Sir?" Constantine looked puzzled.

"All will become clear, Lieutenant-Commander," said Amelia. "Ms Mayflower?"

"Matching speed now, ma'am," said Aurora. "We'll settle into a parallel course at about two hundred metres distance."

"Make it one hundred, if you can," said Amelia. "And Captain? Prepare a boarding party. I want that ship searched."

"Aye, ma'am." Rennier nodded.

"Sir?" Midshipman Collis raised a hand. "I think I see something."

Doppler hurriedly put his telescope to his eye and ran it along the length of the alien ship. About two thirds of the way back, clinging to its port side like a limpet, was a small ramshackle timber construction like half a hut, protruding from the curving metallic hull. The _Lyonesse_ 's turn was bringing it clearly into view.

"What is it, Mr Collis?" Rennier stepped forward.

"That boarding party, Captain," said Doppler, focusing on the hut. "The one that was going to search the ship? I think someone beat us to it."

"It looks like a docking port, sir," said Constantine. "Some kind of entrance. It looks...disused, but relatively recent."

"So we're not the first ones to come across this derelict," muttered Amelia. "Ensure that the boarding party is appropriately equipped to face all contingencies, Captain."

"Yes, ma'am." Rennier nodded across the bridge to Tansley. "Major? Prepare a fireteam. Full kit."

"Aye, sir," Tansley touched his hat. "With your permission, I'll lead it myself."

"Permission granted," said Rennier. Tansley saluted again and left the bridge.

"Make sure our spacers are armed as well," said Amelia. "And tell Surgeon-Commander Gray to stand ready to receive casualties. Let's leave nothing to chance."

"Aye, Admiral," Rennier agreed. "Though... _our_ spacers?"

"You heard me." Amelia smiled. "I'm going with the boarding party."

Doppler looked up in surprise. "Are you quite sure that's-" he bit his tongue just in time to stop himself from saying 'wise' in front of the other officers, "-necessary?"

"Oh, you're coming as well, doctor," Amelia grinned at him. "If that ship is what we think it is, there are precisely five people in the entire Empire who've seen anything like it before and two of us are right here."

"Who are the others, ma'am?" asked Aurora.

"One is a half-crazed robot in dire need of a neural overhaul," said Amelia. "One is possibly the most controversial cadet to grace the Academy in years. And one is a pirate on the run from the law. So on the whole, Flag-Lieutenant, you're lucky it's just the good doctor and I."

"Lucky in all sorts of ways, ma'am," Aurora smiled wryly. "We're coming alongside now. Distance one hundred metres."

Amelia looked across to the alien ship. Up close, the pitting and discolouration of its hull was even more apparent, making the ramshackle wooden docking port stand out in starker contrast.

"Any signs we've been spotted?"

"No, ma'am," said Pike. "No movement or signals."

"What's the maximum distance we can run a jackstay, Captain?" Amelia looked at Rennier, who frowned for a moment.

"For single personnel? Perhaps a hundred metres. But to move any equipment, more like fifty."

"Can you get us that close, Ms Mayflower?" Amelia turned her questioning gaze to Aurora, who nodded.

"Yes, ma'am. Fifty metres."

"We can run a hawser from the mainmast," said Rennier. "And rig tackle to carry a longboat."

"Very good. Do so." Amelia nodded. "Muster the boarding party on the quarterdeck. We'll go across as soon as the jackstay is in place. And, yes, doctor. That does mean you."

* * *

Doppler closed the door of his cabin and hurried back on deck. He'd just had time to throw his notebook into a satchel along with a flashlight and sling his camera around his neck. His heart was racing with a mix of anticipation at the discoveries that lay in store aboard the alien vessel if it had indeed been built by the designers of Treasure Planet and fear at stepping into a potentially-hostile unknown. His concerns about the latter were at least partially allayed when he arrived on the quarterdeck to find Amelia, a swordbelt and holster around her waist, inspecting half a dozen Royal Marines, who were standing in a neat line behind a small crowd of armed spacers, their rifles in hand and grenades glinting on their bandoliers. Sergeant-Major Ko was eyeing them critically as well, though she was leaning heavily on her cane as she did so.

"Ah, doctor, there you are." Amelia grinned at him. "I was just thinking we'd have to leave without you."

"I'm glad you didn't," Doppler grinned back and hoped it sounded like he meant it. Amelia's green eyes were wide and catlike and her pointed ears were erect and alert, the thoughts of what might lie aboard the alien derelict clearly firing her enthusiasm for adventure.

"Steady, there. Steady!" Under the watchful eye of a petty officer, a team of spacers was hard at work setting up what Amelia had called a jackstay but what Doppler would have called a flying fox, running across the narrow space between the _Lyonesse_ and the other ship. A heavy rope had been sent across the gap on a rocket fired from a grapnel launcher, sticking hard into the timber of the improvised docking port structure. The other end was now lashed tight around the mainmast, and spacers were busy rigging additional lines and hoisting one of the ship's longboats into position to hang from a block and tackle on the main rope. Doppler eyed it warily.

"It'll be safe enough, doctor, don't you worry." Captain Rennier seemed to read his thoughts as he appeared beside him and saluted Amelia. "All standing by, ma'am."

"Very good, Flag-Captain." Amelia returned the salute. "Once we've secured the docking port, send the carpenter across with two of his mates and make the jackstay fast."

"Aye, ma'am." Rennier nodded.

"Let's leave as little as possible to chance," said Amelia. "And in that spirit, charge and load the starboard battery and target the derelict. If it does _anything_ you don't like, you have my permission to exercise your initiative."

"A...aye, ma'am." Rennier looked a little taken aback.

"Though naturally I'd prefer it if you waited until we got back before you opened fire," said Amelia. "Speaking of which, doctor, are you familiar with these?"

Doppler, who had been fiddling with his camera, looked up and saw Amelia offering him the butt of a laslock pistol. He remembered how she had casually tossed him an identical weapon during the mutiny on the _Legacy_ and how he had fumbled with it so clumsily. He took this one with a more practised grip and made sure the safety catch was on before he stowed it in the pocket of his burgundy coat.

"I think I remember learning a thing or two about them, yes."

"Splendid." Amelia winked. "Then let's not waste any more time. Boarding party to the longboat!"

The boat creaked as Doppler clambered aboard and took his place among the heavily-armed soldiers and spacers. He looked up at where Amelia was standing in the bows as she turned and nodded to the crew on the deck, who heaved on the ropes and began pushing the longboat over the edge. It lurched as it dropped a foot or so into space and hung from the jackstay. Peering over the gunwales, Doppler had a sickeningly clear view down to the surface of the orphan core, a shifting mass of dull silver like a vat of boiling mercury. His stomach lurched and he tore his eyes away and back to the docking port, which was now approaching as the crew hauled on the lines to drag the longboat across the gap. They were coming in a little high and were faced with a fall of a few feet to the floor of the docking port once the longboat creaked inside.

"Marines, secure the entrance!"

At Tansley's bark, the soldiers jumped over the edge, undaunted by the drop despite their heavy equipment, and raced into position by the open doorway that led from the port into the dark interior of the unknown ship. Their laslock rifles were levelled into the gloom warily as the rest of the boarding party disembarked behind them. Doppler brushed himself down and adjusted the strap of his satchel as he joined them. Amelia, her voice curt and commanding as ever, strode across the port, one hand on the hilt of her cutlass.

"Do you see any movement?"

"Nothing, ma'am," Tansley shook his head. "No contacts."

"Then let's move out. Stick together, and don't let anything cut us off from this longboat." Amelia drew her pistol. "Royal Marines, take point. Doctor, stay close to me."

"You don't need to tell me twice," Doppler muttered. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the _Lyonesse_ had opened her starboard gunports and run out her cannon, which were now trained unblinkingly on the alien vessel. It wasn't much comfort. Sighing, he took out his flashlight and followed Amelia as the small party moved out. The short passageway from the docking port soon joined a larger corridor running longitudinally, with intersections roughly every ten metres leading deeper into the interior of the ship.

"Two marines to stay here and hold the entrance," Tansley whispered. "The rest of you, move junction by junction, two in front of the the group and two behind. Make it quick and quiet."

They advanced along the corridor cautiously. Doppler's initial anxiety was soon overwhelmed by mounting scientific curiosity. The walls of the corridor were smooth and curved, but lined with pipes and conduits whose purpose he could only guess at. They seemed to follow no set plan, with branches leading off in random directions as they looped over, under and around each other. It was dimly lit by a handful of blue-green lights apparently set at random into the walls and ceiling and even the floor, where they shone up through a metal grating of an intricate geometric pattern. In contrast to the dirty, pitted exterior of the ship, the inside seemed spotless. Here and there, small arrays of lights blinked on and off and changed colour.

"What do you make of all this, doctor?" asked Amelia.

"It's...it's just extraordinary," Doppler shook his head as he panned his flashlight around. "And you're right about the origin of this ship. Look at the patterns on the roof, and on some of these pipes."

Amelia looked at the designs closely. Lines and circular sigils traced complex outlines across their surfaces.

"Just like on Mr Hawkins' map sphere," she said, nodding.

"And on the inside of BEN's hideaway," said Doppler.

"I'll have to take your word on that," Amelia smiled wryly. "I'm afraid I wasn't paying such matters much notice by that time. Other things had my attention."

"Well, you were wounded," said Doppler.

"That, too," Amelia winked at him. Doppler grinned in the shadows.

"So who built all this, then, doctor?" asked Tansley. "It sounds like you know."

"Well, in a manner of speaking," Doppler nodded. "Long ago – thousands of years ago – there was a race whose technological progress had reached undreamed-of heights. We don't even know what they called themselves, so they're known to archaeologists only as the Forefathers. There have been a mere few handfuls of artefacts and sites discovered in digs across the Empire, but nothing even remotely on this scale. Except for Treasure Planet and its portal network of course, but it was destroyed shortly after we found it. Although naturally Captain Flint and his pirates had known about it for years because that's how they were able to carry out their raids all across the galaxy. And now to find a Forefather ship, intact...who knows what secrets there may be waiting here?"

"Forgive the doctor's enthusiasm, Major," Amelia smiled. "This may be a discovery of great significance."

"These Forefathers," said Tansley. "I don't suppose there's any chance of any of them still being around?"

"Oh, no. No, no, no. They died out millennia ago," Doppler shook his head.

"So there's no possibility that they'd have left any rubbish lying around recently?" Tansley pointed. Doppler followed his finger and saw an empty tin can lying under a pipeline. It was evidently of Imperial manufacture, the label torn but still clearly advertising the virtues of the foodstuff it had once contained.

"Er..."

"So we're _not_ alone on this ship," said Amelia. "Stay alert, everyone. But react with caution. I don't want civilian casualties."

"Are you sure they're civilians?" Doppler checked his pocket for the comforting weight of his pistol.

"We'll find out soon enough," Amelia narrowed her eyes and peered ahead.

"Sir!" Baines, one of the marines bringing up the rear of the group was beckoning furiously to Tansley, who looked around sharply and hurried back to where the two soldiers were covering the side passage the boarding party had just passed.

"Report, private," Tansley crouched next to him.

"Movement, sir," Baines pointed. "Two junctions down on the left."

"How many?"

"Don't know, sir."

"Well, let's not stand on ceremony, Major," said Amelia. "We might as well be the first to make contact."

"As you wish, ma'am." Tansley drew his pistol. "Look sharp, marines."

Amelia stood up and raised her voice. "Ahoy, there!"

Her voice had a metallic echo as it resounded down the corridor. The marines gripped their rifles tightly as they watched for a reaction. After a long few moments, a gruff reply came back.

"Aye! Who's this?"

"Her Majesty's Royal Navy!" Amelia shouted back. "Step into the open with your hands raised, and do it carefully!"

A handful of figures emerged from one of the passageways, hands up and faces anxious. They wore no uniform, but were clad in ragged-looking spacer's clothes. The leader, a crooked-shouldered humanoid with a battered leather tricorn hat and a snouted nose, stepped forwards.

"We're...we're here! Don't shoot! We're Imperial spacers!"

"Keep them covered, Major," Amelia muttered. "And watch our flanks as well."

Doppler watched, his heart in his mouth, as Amelia stood up and began walking to meet the tattered group. They certainly didn't look like pirates, but the naval spacers and marines around him didn't relax their vigilance. Amelia holstered her weapon, but kept her hands nearby as she stood face-to-face with the leader.

"Vice-Admiral Amelia, Sector Commander Crescentia, of her Imperial Majesty's Royal Light Ship _Lyonesse_ ," she said formally. "And you are?"

"Sorensen," said the man. "Ando Sorensen, of the salvage ship _Adar._ And very glad to see you, too, Admiral. We've been hoping someone would find us."

"I'm afraid we're not a rescue mission, Mr Sorensen," said Amelia. "Though I take it from your words that you do need rescuing?"

"We could do with it, yes." Sorensen said. "Our ship left us behind here. There was a mutiny. Me and my lads survived, but we've been stuck here ever since."

"A mutiny?" Amelia raised an eyebrow. "Does the Guild of Salvors know about this?"

"We're...not with the Guild." Sorensen looked awkward. "We're more...freelance."

"Ah." Amelia's tone was frosty.

"But if you're not here to rescue us, why are you here?" Sorensen seemed keen to move the conversation on.

"Well, that's rather a story," said Amelia. "One best told aboard my flagship. Are these men the only ones with you?"

"There's just the five of us, aye," Sorensen nodded. "Well...and a sixth, but he's...probably not long for this world."

"My medical staff will see to any casualties you have," said Amelia. "We'll make arrangements to bring him aboard."

"Well..." Sorensen looked dubious for a moment before relenting. "If you think so..."

"I do. One of your crew will lead three of mine to your casualty and help prepare him for transfer." Amelia turned and nodded to her spacers. "We'll find berths for the rest of your crew. But you, Mr Sorensen, will come with me."

* * *

Sorensen looked distinctly out of place in the august surroundings of Amelia's stateroom, and was even more uncomfortable under the questioning of the Admiral and Captain Rennier. Doppler found himself feeling sorry for him.

"What was a salvage crew even doing here?" Rennier asked. "It's well outside the normal shipping routes."

"Yes. Well...it's not easy, the salvage business," said Sorensen. "Not when you're an independent. The Guild has the major shipping routes all sewn up so we have to look elsewhere. And there's always a few ships that ride the Fraser Current, even if they're not supposed to. And some of them get into strife and...well, with what's at the Current's end, you can name your price for saving them."

"Van Ryen's Point," said Doppler.

"You're charging people to save them from falling into a black hole," said Amelia coldly.

"Well...look, eventually we found this star, and we saw that there was a ship orbiting it, and we figured that it might be an opportunity." Sorensen went on. "So we boarded it. Found it was abandoned. Figured we could claim it as a vacant derelict. We built the docking port so we could take things on and off for the salvage work."

"So what went wrong?" Amelia arched an eyebrow. "Why did you have a mutiny?"

"There were...disagreements about whether it was worth the effort," said Sorensen. "See, the _Black Knight_ 's engines are dead. We don't know how to fix them. We tried for weeks, but couldn't make head nor tail of it."

"The _Black Knight_?"

"It's what we called the derelict," Sorensen explained. "Because...well, it's dark, and we though it was like our salvation. Anyway, when the solar wind started dropping, everything sort of came to a head. The ones who wanted to leave turned on us who wanted to stay. They kicked us off the _Adar_ and sailed away."

"So the core's magnetic field _does_ drop to let the solar wind through!" Doppler looked up with interest. "How long ago was this?"

"Must be almost a month," said Sorensen. "Lucky for us, we'd already moved a few supplies onto the _Black Knight_ because of the repairs we were trying to make, but we'd have starved for sure if you hadn't turned up."

"How far did you get with the repairs?" Rennier queried.

"Yeah. Well, not very far, to be honest." Sorensen shrugged. "None of my people are engineers by training and the ship...well, you've been aboard and seen it, Admiral. Have you ever seen anything like it?"

Amelia traded glances with Doppler before responding. "Not specifically, no. However, we may be able to be of assistance in that respect. Can we spare any hands from the engineering department, Captain?"

"I'd have to check with Commander Vendross, but I'd imagine we could," said Rennier. "Even though they're working hard just to keep the _Lyonesse'_ s systems functioning."

"Inform Mr Vendross that he should regard this as a priority," said Amelia. "The _Black Knight_ might just be our ticket out of here. Yes, I know about the core's magnetic field, doctor, but there's no harm in having two irons in the fire. Whichever ship regains motive power first can tow the other one out of here."

"Aye, ma'am," Rennier nodded.

"I appreciate the consideration, Admiral," said Sorensen. "But if I may...regarding the, er, status of the _Black Knight_..."

"I don't intend to throw out the rules of salvage, Mr Sorensen," said Amelia crisply. "Your crew found it. As for the rest, we'll let the lawyers sort it out. Right now, our main concern has to be the safety of our crews."

"Of course, of course," Sorensen nodded quickly. "And...the mutiny matter?"

"We'll issue an all-ports bulletin for your ship when we return," said Amelia. "Once they're apprehended, it'll be up to the Admiralty Courts as usual."

"Right." Sorensen nodded. "Can't do anything else, I suppose."

"Not at this juncture," said Amelia, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Well...then if it's all right with you, I'd like to go back to the _Black Knight_ ," said Sorensen, perhaps sensing the ice thinning under his feet. "Me and my crew don't have a whole lot of baggage, but there's a few things over there I'd like to transfer over."

"Shouldn't be a problem," said Rennier. "We've arranged accommodation for you and your crew on the berth deck. There'll be space there."

"Much obliged, Captain," Sorensen bowed. "If I may, I'll take my leave."

"Please do." Amelia watched him go, and sighed as soon as the stateroom door was closed behind him.

"It gets stranger by the second, ma'am," said Rennier.

"It does indeed." Amelia nodded. "And now we're stuck with that lot."

"What's wrong with them?" asked Doppler. "You have been rather...short with them."

"Unlicensed salvage isn't exactly illegal," said Amelia. "But it doesn't tend to attract the most ethical of spacers. Frankly, the only difference between a lot of freelance salvors and space pirates is that the salvors generally don't create the situations they exploit."

"And the pirates do have a basic honesty of purpose," Rennier added cynically.

"Frankly, Mr Sorensen and his gang are lucky that we found them before the Guild of Salvors did," said Amelia. "The Guild does not look favourably on freelancers and tends to take an...unsophisticated approach to putting them out of business. Aside from freelancers being competition, a lot of them are pretty dubious characters who give the rest of the industry a bad name. You heard Sorensen explain what they were doing in the Fraser Current in the first place – that's the kind of people we're dealing with. I've no time for those who exploit the misery of others."

"I...well, I understand that," said Doppler. "It did sound a little...unscrupulous."

"Your talent for understatement always amazes," Amelia smiled. "I'd use another word to describe someone who holds innocent spacers to ransom over a black hole."

Rennier coughed. "With your permission, ma'am, I'll speak with the Chief Engineer to get things underway as soon as possible."

Amelia waved a hand. "Permission granted, Captain. See yourself out. Not you, doctor – I've something to ask of you."

Doppler paused halfway out of his chair and sat down again as Rennier left them. He looked at Amelia expectantly.

"Yes?"

"I want you to work with whoever can be spared from engineering to repair the _Black Knight,_ " Amelia looked at him.

Doppler's eyes widened in surprise. "Me? But I'm no engineer!"

"No," Amelia said, "But you're the person on board with the best theoretical knowledge of Forefather technology, not to mention of propulsion physics. We need you. I don't expect you to do the nuts and bolts; just to help and advise."

"Well..." Doppler swallowed. "I'm happy to lend a hand, of course. But I'm also taking observations of the orphan core to determine the flux of its magnetic fields. I can't do that _and_ work with the engineers."

"Can you hand the observations to Lieutenant Mayflower?"

"I suppose so...she's certainly qualified," Doppler scratched his head. "I'd have to acquaint her with the schedule I've devised, of course..."

"Do so at your first convenience," said Amelia, moving to take her seat at her desk. "Will there be anything else you need?"

"I can't know that until I take a proper look at the _Black Knight_ ," said Doppler. "And...you realise I can't promise anything?"

Amelia nodded reassuringly. "I don't expect miracles, Delbert. Only your best. That's all I can ask of anyone."

"I'll certainly give it." Doppler smiled.

"I couldn't doubt you." Amelia smiled back. "Carry on, Mr Arrow."

"I'll let you know how I – wait, what?" Doppler had already turned to go before his brain caught up with his ears.

"Hmm?" Amelia looked up from her desk. Doppler stopped and blinked.

"Er...I thought you said..."

"I said 'carry on', Delbert," Amelia gave him a strange look. "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, um, no. No. I just thought...nothing. I'll see you later."

Doppler turned to go with a sense of relief and puzzlement. Perhaps he had just misheard her – that was certainly easier to believe than the thought that his precise, calculating wife had misspoken so completely, which was normally his own speciality. Sighing as he stepped back out on deck, he put a hand to the back of his head, where he suddenly realised a dull, throbbing pain was developing.

* * *

Surgeon-Commander Gray looked at her patient one last time, satisfying herself that all was in order, before she nodded to the orderly who was working with her, turned and began washing her hands in the sink. The young salvor whom the stretcher bearers had brought in – Falk, they'd said he was called – had been barely conscious, though his injuries were not life-threatening and had been straightforward to treat. But there was something about their nature that had been bothering the Macropodian surgeon and she was keen to work through her thoughts in private. She turned back to the orderlies who had been assisting her and waved a note.

TAKE HIM INTO THE WARD.

She left them to it and made her way to her office. A hurricane lantern had been placed on her desk for light – the shipwide power shortage meant that the ceiling light could not be used and, the sickbay being close to the middle of the ship, it had no windows to benefit from the natural light of the etherium. She turned up the small yellow flame, opened her logbook, and began writing. There was no sound for a while aside from the rapid scratching of her pen across the paper until she stopped at the end of a sentence and re-read the last few words she had written.

... _LIKELY SELF-INFLICTED._

Somehow it helped to see it in writing, even if it was her own. A kind of confirmation of thoughts that had hitherto existed only inside her own head. She sat in silence, pondering the words and their implications, until her reverie was broken by a sound from the ward – a metallic crash, such as might be caused by a clumsy orderly dropping a tray of instruments. Her brows furrowed with annoyance at such a basic mistake, and she stood up to investigate, a series of choice admonitions already forming in her mind. Stepping into the ward, she thumped the wall to get the orderly's attention, but froze as her eyes took in the scene. The orderly was slumped over a bed. Falk was standing over him, a metal tray in his hand, its corner already bloodied. He looked around at Gray and seemed to see her with eyes that were wide and staring. Gray backed up against the wall, feeling around behind her for anything that might help.

"It...it has to be done!" Falk shrieked. "It's a kindness! A kindness!"

Gray's fingers closed around the familiar handle of a scalpel and she brought it around in front of her. It was a surgical tool rather than a fighting weapon – the blade was razor-sharp but only an inch or so long – but it was better than nothing. She could feel her heartbeat thumping in her chest as Falk shoved the orderly's unconscious body off the bed and sprang towards her. His arm went back and even Gray flinched at the sight and sound of a row of stitches she'd put into his shoulder parting before he lashed out at her. She ducked under the tray, which dashed against the wall, and darted for the door.

"I'm telling you, it's a kindness!" Falk screamed. "You'll thank me soon!"

Gray slammed the door. The keys to lock it were at the triage desk at the sickbay entrance, but at least a closed door was some kind of obstacle and it bought her a little time. In the midst of her fear, her scientific mind wondered what had possessed the young salvor – she knew of several narcotics which could bring about similarly violent and disordered mental states, but all of them left unmistakeable physical traces of their use and Falk had exhibited none of the signs when she'd examined him.

"Ma'am!" The second of Gray's staff emerged from the dispensary, carrying a small lantern, and quickly took in the scene. Gray wished she could shout a warning before the medic lunged at Falk and began grappling with him. Falk screamed again, an animal sound of fear and rage, and struck back. The orderly yelled as Falk sank his teeth into his neck, hard enough to draw blood. His lantern clattered to the ground and went out, deepening the shadows in the room. Gray leapt forward, hoping to take advantage of Falk's distraction, but the salvor's reactions had been hotwired by sheer fury and he brought an elbow around to catch Gray on the cheek. She span sideways into the wall and raised her arms to block a blow that sent her scalpel skittering from her grasp. Looking up, she met Falk's eyes and wished she hadn't. There was nothing there to reason with, no sign of thought or recognition, just a mad stare into some internal darkness. If nothing else, it told her that her suspicions about narcotics had been wrong. She'd seen eyes like that before, but always on a battlefield. Falk, his mouth still bloodied, advanced on her.

"Doc!"

Ko was standing in the doorway, already reaching for her cutlass as she came into the room. Gray waved to her frantically. Falk noticed and looked around.

"I can help you, too," he said. "It's a kindness I'm doing."

Ko stopped short – she'd seen eyes like his as well. She drew her weapon and gripped it tightly.

"Back away from the surgeon," she warned. "Back away right now with your hands above your head. Touch her, and I'll put you down where you stand."

"He's gone nuts, sarge," the dispensary orderly groaned, one hand clamped tight to his wounded neck. "Be careful."

"Back away, spacer," Ko said, bringing up her sword. "One last chance."

Gray moved to grasp Falk's arm, intending to bring it behind his back in the restraint position. He twisted instead, slamming her back into the wall hard enough to knock the breath out of her. Coughing, she tried to keep herself from doubling over even as his shadow fell across her.

"I told you," Falk said, still staring down at her. "It's-"

Ko struck. Naval cutlasses were sturdily-built things, designed for the chaotic melees that characterised boarding actions in which the finer points of swordplay were generally impossible. Every part of the cutlass could be used as a weapon, including its hilt, and she drove the rounded steel of the hand guard into the back of Falk's head with all the force she could muster. There was a crack of bone and he went down on the spot. Ko winced as her damaged back protested against the effort of the punch and flexed her shoulder painfully.

"What the hell was that all about?" she muttered. "Is everyone all right?"

"I'll live," the wounded orderly got to his feet. Gray nodded and stood up again as she regained her breath, taking out her notebook.

CASE IN THE WARD _,_ she wrote shakily to the orderly. GO.

"Doc?" Ko reached out and touched her shoulder.

Gray met Ko's eyes briefly and nodded. I'M NEEDED HERE.

Ko gave a resigned nod in return. "Looks like it. I'll round up the rest of your staff and send them here. And I'd better let the Captain know, too."

THANK YOU.

"I reckon he'll have a few questions to ask, though," Ko looked at Falk's body as she sheathed her sword.

Gray nodded.

SO WILL I.


	4. Chapter 4

Amelia sat at her desk, reading Gray's report with one eyebrow arched. The surgeon herself, along with Ko, was standing at attention in front of her while Rennier hovered to one side. Reaching the end, Amelia looked up at them.

"What's the current condition of the casualties?"

"Our medical staff are expected to make full recoveries," said Rennier. "The orderly who was knocked out regained consciousness and is responding well."

"And the salvor? Falk?"

Ko looked at the ceiling innocently. Gray stepped forward.

STILL UNCONSCIOUS. HIS OUTLOOK IS UNCERTAIN.

Amelia nodded phlegmatically. "Just how hard did you hit him, Sergeant-Major?"

"Under the circumstances, ma'am, I thought it best to be certain of putting him down," said Ko.

I APPROVE – Gray began writing again but Amelia stopped her with a wave of her hand.

"You can put it away, Surgeon-Commander. I can assure you that both the Captain and I would take the Sergeant-Major's side if Mr Sorensen objected to her restoration of order. Imminent threat to the life of a crew member is ample justification for the use of lethal force in accordance with the Articles of War." She gave a wry smile. "Under the circumstances, I suppose I must commend you on your restraint in using the _back_ end of your cutlass instead of the other one."

Ko tried not to grin crookedly. "Thank you, ma'am."

Amelia sat back. "I don't suppose any of you can shed any light on what the man meant by 'it's a kindness'?"

"No clue, ma'am," Ko shook her head. "Unless he said something to Dr Gray before my arrival?"

Gray shook her head firmly.

"In that case, I suggest we bring Mr Sorensen in here," said Amelia. "Pass the word for him."

"I believe he's transferring his crew's belongings from the _Black Knight_ this morning, ma'am," said Rennier.

"I don't particularly care what he's doing," Amelia said curtly. "But I know what he _will_ be doing if he isn't in this cabin in the next five minutes. Pass the word, Sergeant-Major."

"Ma'am." Ko touched the brim of her round hat and left.

"Where is Mr Falk at the moment?" Amelia turned her attention back to Gray.

SEDATED IN MY OPERATING THEATRE, Gray replied.

"Will you be able to continue his treatment in the brig?"

Gray considered it. ACCEPTABLY.

"Good." Amelia nodded to Rennier. "Have him transferred there and tell Major Tansley to keep a guard posted there. When he wakes up – _if_ he wakes up – I don't want to run the risk that he's still a threat."

"Aye, Admiral," Rennier nodded.

Ko returned to the cabin and touched her hat again. "Sorensen's coming, ma'am. Deck sentry's bringing him now."

"Thank you." Amelia stood up as Sorensen arrived, looking a little flustered at the presence of an armed Royal Marine at his shoulder. He straightened his coat and coughed awkwardly.

"Er, you asked to see me, Admiral?"

"I did." Amelia stepped forward as the soldier retreated, closing the door behind himself. "You owe us an explanation."

"What for?" Sorensen looked surprised.

"Your Mr Falk – the casualty we brought aboard," said Rennier. "He resisted treatment and attacked our medical staff."

"Oh..." Sorensen's surprise seemed to reduce. Amelia narrowed her eyes.

"The news does not seem to have caught you off guard," she said pointedly.

"Well...truth be told, he'd been unstable for a while," said Sorensen. "He'd attacked some of my other lads and we'd had to restrain him."

"And you didn't think to tell us this?"

"Look, I didn't know for sure that anything was going to happen!" Sorensen fidgeted. "So...what did he do?"

"He knocked one of our medics unconscious, wounded a second and would have done worse to our chief surgeon had our Sergeant-Major of Marines not intervened," said Rennier, nodding to Gray and Ko, who were both watching Sorensen with suspicion.

"And...Falk?"

"May not wake up," said Amelia bluntly. "A fate which could quite easily have been avoided had you been honest with us when we offered our assistance."

"I...can only apologise, Admiral," said Sorensen.

"I don't appreciate people bringing liabilities aboard my flagship without informing either myself or the Flag-Captain," said Amelia. "So if there's anything else we should know, you'd better tell us now. Such as an explanation for why my chief medical officer tells me that most of Mr Falk's wounds were self-inflicted."

Sorensen sighed. "It's not a pleasant story."

"I don't expect it to be." Amelia sat at her desk and steepled her fingers in front of her, fixing Sorensen with a piercing emerald gaze. "Continue."

"Falk...he was the new boy in my crew. He just joined the _Adar_ when we sailed this last time. He'd never been in deep space before." Sorensen looked down. "And...I suppose the hopelessness got to him. After the mutiny, you know. Just the few of us left behind on the _Black Knight_ , running out of supplies, no hope of escape, no hope of rescue. That can get to a man. After the first few weeks, he just...cracked. Started attacking us. When we subdued him, he just started attacking himself. What could we do?"

Amelia glanced sideways at Gray, who was still glaring at the salvor. "So you're saying he went space-crazy?"

Sorensen nodded sadly. "Can't say that I blame him."

"And you say he attacked your crew as well?"

"A few times. He said he was doing us a kindness. Got his hands around one of my lads' throat once before we were able to stop him."

"A kindness?" Ko raised an eyebrow. "That's what he was saying when he attacked us, too."

"Must still be sick, then," said Sorensen. "Look, Admiral, I admit that I should have warned you and I apologise for the trouble, but he'd been quiet the last few days. I thought he'd stay that way."

"From what you said on the _Black Knight_ when I offered to help him, you thought that he was going to die," said Amelia.

"Yeah..." Sorensen looked uncomfortable.

"Why would you say that?"

Gray stepped forward. THE PATIENT HADN'T EATEN FOR SEVERAL DAYS.

Amelia turned her gaze back to Sorensen as the implications sank in. "You were withholding food from him?"

"It was only the last few scraps...the rest of us would have been starving ourselves in a few days' time anyway," said Sorensen miserably. "And since Falk was...well, you said it yourself, Admiral, he was a liability. We thought maybe the rest of us could last a bit longer if we just left him alone to..." He stopped and looked away. "I'm not proud of that decision, but given the options..."

"I see." Amelia nodded. "And at a certain level, I even understand. Did Falk's...condition play any part in the mutiny on your ship?"

"No, no, he was all right until the bastards left us behind to die." Sorensen shook his head. "None of my lads had anything to do with that business. We _wanted_ to stay and try to salvage the _Black Knight_. It was the rest of the crew that said it wasn't worth being stuck here and turned against _us_. They panicked when the star began going out. The wind began dying away, there was an argument about what to do, one thing led to another what with so little time to make the decision. Things got out of hand and...well, Falk was a good kid, he wanted to make his fortune, and a spacer could retire for life on what the _Black Knight_ 'd be worth, so he sided with us."

"So it was all about money to you?"

"Well...I suppose you could say so," Sorensen admitted. "Look, the salvage business is a tough game, especially when you're not running with the Guild. You got to take your opportunities as they come. Or so I think anyway. Not everyone agreed that this prize was worth the risk of being stuck here."

"Quite." Amelia sat back. "Well, Mr Sorensen, I can't guarantee that this'll be the last time we need to talk, but that'll do for now. You can leave us."

"Thank you, Admiral." Sorensen nodded. "But if I can ask...what's happening with Falk?"

"He'll be kept under guard while he's treated for his injuries," said Rennier.

"Would I be able to get in and see the poor lad?" Sorensen looked to Amelia, who took her cue from Gray's emphatic shake of the head.

"I'm afraid not. Not at this stage, at least. Now you can see yourself out, Mr Sorensen."

The door closed behind the senior salvor. Amelia sat at her desk a moment longer, drumming her fingers on the mahogany surface.

"Do you trust him, ma'am?" asked Rennier.

"Not a bloody inch," said Amelia. "I can believe that a young, inexperienced spacer who was out of his depth might not react well to being marooned to die. I can even accept the story that they left him to starve, though I don't have to like it."

"But..."

"Something about this mutiny still doesn't quite add up to me." Amelia shook her head. "It all seems to have happened rather precipitately."

"They're a mercenary crowd, ma'am," Rennier shrugged. "Keen on self-preservation, I'd imagine."

"Indeed. I don't doubt that that's the reason for it, but..." Amelia sighed. "Oh, I don't know. I just can't picture even a gang of scavengers like that panicking so quickly merely because the wind dropped a bit. Sorensen is right about the _Black Knight_ being worth a fortune. Why would a freelance salvage crew so readily turn their backs on that? I don't think they would - not unless losing the wind was the last straw and there were other reasons they didn't want to be here."

"Such as what, ma'am?" asked Ko.

"I don't know." Amelia shook her head and paused in thought for a moment. "Well. You'd all best carry on. Captain? Dr Gray? Get the patient into the brig. And I want all of you to keep an ear close to the deck. If Sorensen or any of his other crew do anything, or say anything, even remotely suspicious then I want to know about it."

"Yes, ma'am."

Rennier led the others out of the room, leaving Amelia alone with her thoughts. She stood up and went to look out of the stern gallery windows, to where the _Lyonesse_ 's wake was normally visible but where there now was nothing but the discomforting spectacle of the orphan core turning below them and the haze of the Fraser Current beyond. She watched it for a moment, brow furrowed in thought, until she caught sight of her own reflection in a cracked pane of glass and her heart froze.

"What in the worlds-"

She span around, but the room was still vacant. Turning back to the reflection in the window, she confirmed that she stood alone. But for a fraction of a second, she could have sworn that she'd seen a flash of a red coat and eyes watching her out of a craggy, grey face set between broad epauletted shoulders...

* * *

Under the light of the chartroom lamp, Doppler and Aurora were working through the exhaustive schedule of observations that had been planned to investigate the orphan core's fluctuations. Discarded balls of paper littered one corner of the small room.

"The Chief Engineer has promised that the ship's magnetometers will be running continually," Doppler was saying. "But two-hourly readings should be sufficient to gather enough data points to calculate an average. I was thinking of running the averages over multiple concurrent timeframes."

"What periods?" Aurora tucked a stray lock of blonde hair behind her ear as she bent over an open book, pencil in hand.

"Eight and twenty-four hours," said Doppler. "That should be enough to detect any brief changes or an emergent trend. And you'd be able to calculate a average every two to three days."

"That sounds manageable," said Aurora. "The officers of the watch can be tasked to take the measurements during the night. I'll leave instructions for them to wake me if there's a significant variation. What other factors are you measuring?"

"Particle count, thermal activity and luminescence," Doppler flipped through some pages in his notebook. "I wish I could do more but with the power situation...and of course this isn't an astronomical survey ship."

"I'm afraid not." Aurora smiled ruefully. "But those factors should be sufficient to draw out any correlations between the core's activity and the magnetic fields."

"My hopes exactly." Doppler smiled back. "I'd also planned a spectroscopic analysis of the core to determine the elemental composition."

"I was just about to suggest that," Aurora grinned. "I always like to know what I'm working with."

"Great minds think alike," Doppler said.

Aurora shrugged shyly and looked away. "I'd hardly say that, doctor. I'm certainly not in your league. How many research papers have you had published?"

"Well, not having military duties to attend to does rather free up one's time to concentrate on the theory," said Doppler. "I imagine they drive you pretty hard in the Academy."

"That they do," Aurora agreed. "And I assume that you've planned to take constant windspeed measurements as part of these observations?"

Doppler paused. "Er...well, now that you mention it...that is sort of the whole point of this exercise, isn't it?"

"That was my understanding," Aurora smiled.

Doppler chuckled. "You see, this is what happens when your education consists of too much theory and not enough spacing."

"The obvious things are the easiest to overlook," Aurora shrugged. "Perhaps I'm just a little nervous. I've never had to run a programme of observations of this complexity before."

"You'll be fine," said Doppler. "It'll all fall into place once you begin."

"Yes. I'm sure you're right." Aurora sighed. "I just wish I could be sure we were covering all our bases. Even with a burnt-out core like this, there must be a hundred stochastic variables affecting its behaviour and we can't possibly measure all of them."

"It's not quite as bad as that. Stellar physics is surprisingly predictable if you have enough data." Doppler smiled. "And besides, you just proved why I'm sure you can handle this. You're probably the only other person on this ship who knows what 'stochastic' means."

Aurora laughed. "I'd like to think my qualifications go further than that, doctor. But thank you. I'll manage, even if I have to drag you back from the _Black Knight_ to get your advice."

"I'm happy to give it at any time." Doppler gave a small bow. "I suppose you'll have everything all collated and in order?"

"Oh, yes. I'll be turning this chartroom over to these observations altogether," Aurora's confidence faltered and her face fell. "I mean...there's not much else to use it for, since we're stuck here..."

Doppler caught the note of self-condemnation in her tone. "And I hope you're not blaming yourself for that. I mean, I agreed with you when you suggested taking the Fraser Current home. More importantly, so did Amelia and the Captain."

"It was still my idea." Aurora said quietly. "If I hadn't...oh, never mind. So tell, me doctor, what are you thinking about that? The _Black Knight_ , I mean. I heard that you're going to go aboard tomorrow morning and try to repair it."

"That's the idea," Doppler shrugged. "I'm trying not to be optimistic or pessimistic at this stage. I can't know what's over there until I see it."

"Very philosophical." Aurora cocked her head. "But you're not working alone, are you?"

Doppler shook his head. "Thankfully, no! Lieutenant Kilroy from the engineering department has been detailed to assist. He comes highly recommended from the Chief Engineer."

"So he should. He's a good technician," said Aurora. "I'm actually a little surprised that Commander Vendross is letting him go. He's only the Third Engineer but he knows the _Lyonesse_ 's electrical systems back to front."

"Is that so? That sounds promising." Doppler said. "I must admit, I'm not much of a...practical kind of person."

"You underestimate yourself, doctor, if I may say so." Aurora said shyly. "I mean, you've seen Forefather technology in action, haven't you?"

"Yes, but I'd be lying if I said I understood how it worked." Doppler pulled a wry face. "Unfortunately we didn't have much time on Treasure Planet to examine the portal mechanism before the whole situation blew up in our faces. Literally."

"Yes. Well, here's hoping that won't happen twice," Aurora joked.

"How bad could my luck be?" Doppler hesitated. "Actually...don't answer that."

Aurora grinned. "It must be good enough. There's nobody else the Admiral would rather be making the attempt. And...I'm rather glad it's you, too."

"I'll try not to let you down." Doppler tried to sound confident. "In fact, I'd better be preparing to go over there now. Do you have everything you need to know about the observations?"

"I think so. I can consult your notes, if you leave them with me." Aurora nodded.

Doppler looked at his messily-scribbled notes, comparing them awkwardly with the navigator's neat copperplate. "Er, yes, if you can read them..."

"I think I can cope." Aurora shuffled the pages square and tucked them into her book. "And really, doctor...good luck. And take care."

"Thank you. I will." Doppler made to leave. "Though I don't think I'll need to. I mean, it's just a ship and it must have been abandoned for centuries. How dangerous could it be?"

* * *

Even the air on board the _Black Knight_ was different. The _Lyonesse_ was by no means oppressive, but nor was there any escaping the fact that around three hundred creatures had called it home for a period of several weeks. By comparison, the _Black Knight_ 's air was almost clinically cool and clean.

"So tell me, er, Mr Sorensen?" Doppler asked as he followed the salvor along the ancient ship's main corridor. "How many of this ship's systems were you able to work out during your time on board?"

"Anything you can tell us would help," said Kilroy. The _Lyonesse_ 's Third Engineer was a canid like Doppler, though of a sleeker, black-furred breed. He was dressed in an orange boiler suit and wore a toolbelt, though Doppler hadn't been able to avoid noticing the holstered laslock pistol also by his side.

"There's not much that we know," said Sorensen. "None of us were engineers and we didn't have a whole lot of equipment. We tried following a few of the conduits but aside from figuring out where the bridge is and where the engines are, we were completely lost. Unless you count working out how to turn the lights on and off."

"There must be _something_ ," said Kilroy. "I mean, where's the power coming from? If this ship's been here for – what were you saying, doctor? Thousands of years? – then how come the lights _are_ still on?"

"Search me," Sorensen shrugged. "We found what looks like the ship's power plant, but we're damned if we can figure it out."

"Can you show us, please?" Doppler asked.

"We'll pass it on the way to the engine room," said Sorensen. "I hope you can get your heads around it, because it's nothing like anything I've seen in thirty years of salvage."

"Have you worked out what kind of ship this is?" Doppler looked around them. "I mean... was this a warship? Passenger ship? Freighter? There must be some kind of clue in the vessel's basic structure."

"Form follows function," Kilroy nodded. "It's a basic rule of design."

"Well, the middle of the ship's hollow," said Sorensen. "There's a great big tube or tunnel almost four metres across running right the way from the nose to what we reckon is the power plant. The nose cone seems to be in four parts that must fold back to open the tube to space."

"An exhaust of some kind?" speculated Doppler.

Kilroy shook his head. "Unlikely, sir. Not facing forward, anyway. The exhaust would counteract the thrust from the engines at the back. Could be some kind of inlet, though, if it's connected to the power plant. The question would be: an inlet for what?"

"I'll leave that to you." Sorensen had reached a door set across the corridor and waved his hand at a set of small lights that sat atop a small pedestal nearby. "Anyway. Here we are. We think."

Doppler stared at what was revealed as the door opened, his shock so great that he didn't even register the soundless way the ancient panels slid back. "Oh, my goodness..."

Kilroy whistled. "Well...looks like we've got our work cut out for us, doctor..."

The floor on which they were walking became a raised catwalk beyond the doorway, reaching into the middle of a spherical space that opened out on either side. It must have been almost as broad as the ship itself, though it felt even larger. It was hard to see the walls because they were covered with tall bronze cylinders protruding into the room. Doppler was immediately reminded of the description Jim Hawkins had given him of the interior of Treasure Planet, but it was clear that these cylinders were some kind of storage mechanism for their top halves were not of metal but of something transparent. Each and every one of them was glowing with a golden incandescence so bright that Doppler's eyes hurt for a moment until they adjusted to the light.

"What...what are these things?"

"Beats me," said Sorensen. "But you can see why we figured this was the heart of the ship. Every major power conduit starts right here."

"It's incredible," Doppler blinked in awe as he stepped into the room. The raised catwalk reached out to a platform in the middle of the room that seemed to hold consoles of some sort.

Kilroy held up a hand near of the cylinders by the entrance experimentally. "It's not hot. It's not even warm."

"Not even a little?" Doppler raised a hand as well. "And the air temperature in here actually feels slightly cooler than in the rest of the ship..."

"Looks like a place to start our work, doctor," Kilroy grinned. "I hope you brought your lunch with you. I think that this might take a while..."

* * *

It was late evening before they returned, climbing aboard the longboat that was being used as a cable car between the _Lyonesse_ and the _Black Knight_. Doppler could feel the exhaustion in every part of his body, but his mind was racing at what felt like the speed of light. Boundless possibilities seemed to unfold before him. Lieutenant Kilroy was more reserved, but Doppler could tell that the naval engineer was as fascinated as he was.

"Back to it tomorrow, eh?" Kilroy shook his hand after they disembarked on the flagship. "And I'll remember to bring spare notebooks, too."

"Good idea," Doppler grinned.

"I'm heading to the wardroom to see if there's any dinner left," said Kilroy. "You're welcome to join me?"

"Thank you, but no." Doppler shook his head. "No, no. I'd better report to the Admiral. I'll get something to eat later."

"Suit yourself." Kilroy shrugged. "I'll bid you goodnight, then, doctor."

Doppler nodded and began heading aft. Despite the lateness of the hour, there were still spacers aloft, working by the dull light of the core below as well as their own lanterns. Every sail the flagship possessed had been opened to draw energy from the anaemic breaths of wind that penetrated the dead star's magnetic field, and the crew were hard at work setting jury-rigs to carry still more canvas.

"Welcome back on board, doctor!" Lieutenant Pike hailed him from the bridge.

"Thank you, Mr Pike!" Doppler scanned the bridge for any sign of Amelia. "Er, is the Admiral...?"

"In her cabin, doctor. Just knock. She's been expecting you for a while."

"Oh? Er." Doppler smiled nervously, suddenly acutely aware of the time and hoping that Amelia hadn't been waiting for too long. "Right."

Amelia was working at her desk when he entered the room, sitting at the centre of a pool of light from a lantern hanging from the deckhead beam above her. There was a small stack of envelopes by her side and as he watched she folded up the piece of paper on which she had been writing, tucked it into one and sealed it with a drop of wax from a slow-burning candle. She picked up a small silver seal and pressed it into the wax to mark it with her personal insignia and then put the letter aside. To Doppler's surprise, he heard her sigh as she did so and then rest her face in her hands for a moment.

"Ahem..." He announced his presence with a polite cough. Amelia looked up instantly and sat back straight in her chair before she saw him and allowed herself to ease a little.

"Oh, it's you, Delbert." She gave him a wan smile of welcome.

"I'm afraid so." Doppler tried to smile back. "Are...are you all right, Amelia? I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long..."

"Don't worry about that." Amelia shook her head. "Though I am glad to see you. I could do with the distraction."

"Yes, I can tell." Doppler pulled up a chair. "May I ask why?"

"I've been writing those letters." Amelia gestured to the small pile of sealed envelopes. "For the families of the crew we've lost. I've been at it all afternoon."

"Ah." Doppler looked down. "Yes. I understand. That must be hard to do."

"It does put one into rather an introspective mood." Amelia nodded and looked at the envelopes by her hand pensively. "There's an official form of words, of course. But I've never much cared for it. It's rather impersonal. 'To whom it may concern, it is with sincere regret that I must inform you...' and so on. I prefer to write my own. I think it's the least I owe them. But...I'd be lying if I said it was easy."

"I can only imagine." Doppler reached across the desk to take her hand. "This must be the hardest part of command. And I wouldn't think that it would get easier."

"It doesn't." Amelia closed her eyes, but threaded her fingers through his.

Doppler nodded. "Can I ask how many you were able to get done?"

"Fourteen of thirty-six," said Amelia. "Not even halfway."

"That's...good." Doppler tried to sound encouraging. "But I think you should take a break for tonight. Focus on something else."

"Yes. I hope I can." Amelia took a deep breath and looked up. "It's been a while since I had to do one of these letters. A long time since I lost anyone under my command."

"How long?"

"Not since the Treasure Planet voyage," said Amelia. "Mr Arrow, you see..."

"Oh." Doppler looked down as Amelia's voice trailed off, regretting having asked the question. "Of course. I'm sorry. It must have brought back a lot of memories for you."

Amelia nodded. "More than just memories..."

"How do you mean?" Doppler puzzled.

Amelia hesitated before answering, remembering the face she had seen in the window behind her.

"I mean...oh, never mind. Just memories, like you said." It was hard to think of anything to say that wouldn't make it sound like she'd lost her mind. "Anyway. How was your day? If you're back this late I can only assume that you found the _Black Knight_ diverting."

"Oh, Amelia, I hardly know where to start!" Doppler beamed suddenly. "It's truly the most remarkable example of ancient technology in the entire history of the galaxy! Except possibly for Treasure Planet itself but of course we never got the chance to probe its secrets but with the _Black Knight_ -"

Amelia smiled at her husband's puppylike enthusiasm as his words washed over her. She could hardly follow him, but he was so carried away that she didn't have to contribute anything to the conversation. It was almost relaxing to listen to him, a reminder after her dark afternoon that someone at least found genuine joy in their work. But she couldn't forget her responsibilities either and so, after about five breathless minutes, she held up a hand to interrupt his stream of consciousness.

"Most interesting, Delbert," she said, "But what I need to know is this: can you repair those engines or not?"

Doppler blinked as he stopped short. "Er. Well, I don't know. I think so. Probably. Eventually. We only just started mapping out where everything is. All I know for sure is that the big spherical room with the glowing cylinders is definitely the _Black Knight_ 's generator. We followed several major power conduits back to it, including from what looks like the engine core."

"And it's still active?" Amelia raised an eyebrow. "Is there any possibility of using it to supplement our own power systems?"

"I'm afraid not. Mr Kilroy looked into that already." Doppler shook his head. "It's operating on a completely different waveform to the _Lyonesse_ 's power grid, and we don't have the equipment to compensate. If we tried to connect it up, it'd probably melt half of the circuits before the breakers could trip."

"Yes, I suppose that was too much to hope for." Amelia smiled mirthlessly. "But this...tunnel running through the _Black Knight_...do you know what it's for?"

"Not yet. We're going to look at the walls of the tunnel tomorrow." Doppler shook his head. "But I think that Mr Kilroy was right to call it an intake. The nose cone of the ship opens up to space and it draws in fuel to the power plant."

"A great deal of fuel, if it's still operational after all these years," said Amelia. "What does it use?"

"I'm not sure about that, either," Doppler admitted. "I'd have to examine those cylindrical structures in the spherical chamber. I think they're some kind of containment mechanism. I'd love to know what for."

"You and I both," said Amelia wryly. "It sounds like you've had a most fascinating day."

"We haven't learned a great deal...aside from the fact that we have a great deal to learn. But we certainly have some lines of inquiry to pursue," Doppler smiled. "And don't worry about me getting carried away and distracted. I'm not likely to forget that we're stuck here."

"Perish the thought," Amelia smiled back. "Well, I don't suppose you've eaten since lunch given how much you seem to have accomplished? If you're minded to stay, I could have my steward bring you a late dinner."

Doppler suddenly realised how hungry he was and his stomach growled appreciatively. He clapped a hand to it and gave an awkward smile as he straightened his spectacles. "Ahah...well, if that wouldn't be too much of an imposition..."

"Not at all. And your company would be most welcome." Amelia went to press the button on her desk to summon the steward, remembered that it had been disconnected as a non-essential system, and stood up to pass the word the old-fashioned way. As she did so, there was a muffled thud out on the deck and a sudden commotion of shouting voices.

"What the-" Doppler shot to his feet in alarm. "What's happening?"

"I'm not sure." Amelia picked up her hat. "But I'll find out. Damned if I'll have a racket like this on my ship at this hour."

Doppler followed her as she marched to the cabin door, opening it and stepping through in one fluid motion, calling out as she rammed her hat onto her head.

"Officer of the watch! What's the meaning of this noise?"

There was a small crowd gathered on the quarterdeck just abaft the mast. Lieutenant Pike, ashen-faced, turned around and saluted hurriedly.

"Your pardon, Admiral! There was...I mean, there's been..."

Doppler craned his head to see past the crowd and stared in shock at the sad shape that was sprawled on the deck. "Oh..."

"It's Mr Partridge, ma'am. He was working to rig a jury-sail on the upper yards and missed his footing," said Pike. "He...he fell..."

Amelia looked down at the body. "Has word been sent for the surgeon?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Pike. "But..."

Amelia nodded. The sentence didn't need finishing. Even Gray wouldn't be able to do anything for the spacer whose body lay twisted and broken on the quarterdeck. Falls from a ship's upperworks were rare but almost invariably fatal. It was a fall the best part of forty metres from the upper heights of the mizzenmast onto the unyielding deck.

"Get him covered and out of the way," said Amelia. "Was there any damage done aloft?"

"No, ma'am. He...just slipped." Pike still seemed to be shaken.

"Very well. Then carry on." Amelia put her hat back on. "Is there any further work to be done tonight?"

"Not much, ma'am. The jury-sail is almost rigged."

"Good. Complete it and then dismiss the topmen below." Amelia thought for a moment. "Actually, belay that order. Get them below now. The morning watch can complete the work at first light."

"Understood, ma'am."

"And have Mr Partridge's personnel papers sent to my cabin, along with a character report from his divisional officer, if you please."

"Aye, ma'am." Pike still looked sick.

"There's nothing you could have done, Mr Pike," said Amelia. "There's nothing anybody could have done."

She turned to go, a subtle hand on Doppler's sleeve indicating that he should leave as well. In truth, he was glad to put the gruesome sight behind him.

"How awful," he said softly. "That poor fellow."

Amelia shook her head. "Such a terrible waste."

There was a note in her voice that made Doppler look at her with concern. "Amelia? Are you..?"

"I'm fine." Amelia stood a little straighter to try to hide the white lie, but then she looked down at the deck, her face clouded. "It's just..."

They stepped back inside her cabin and Doppler closed the door behind them to give Amelia the privacy she so obviously needed to finish her thought.

"...just a thirty-seventh letter to write," Amelia finished quietly.

Suddenly, she seemed very small. Of course, Amelia was of naturally slight build and not especially tall, but she made up in sheer force of personality what she lacked in physical presence and it came as a shock to Doppler to see her standing with her arms folded and her slender shoulders hunched beneath the golden epaulettes of rank that all at once seemed to be a heavy burden on her. The transformation was so complete that it struck Doppler speechless. But then the moment passed, she straightened her back, and she was the Vice-Admiral once again.

"So, doctor. You're joining me for dinner?"

But there was still note of pleading in her voice and Doppler saw the flicker in her eyes. He nodded and stepped forwards, taking her hand in his.

"Yes," he said gently. "Of course."

* * *

 _The trench ran straight for perhaps a hundred feet on the left, and every inch of the rocky floor was covered. Corpses lay in a tangled mess, forming an unbroken carpet all the way to the end. Here and there a limb or a weapon stuck out crazily towards the sky. There was no sound or movement. Ko heard Molt retch behind her._

" _Easy there," Lieutenant Zavier called from the head of the platoon. "The dead can't hurt you. Sergeant Crysac, you and your squad will take point. Corporal Loftus, your squad will hold this junction. Mr Jerram, move up in support of 1_ _st_ _Squad."_

 _The platoon moved out again. The marines of 3_ _rd_ _Squad under the avian Loftus looked relieved at not being expected to enter the valley of death on the other side. Following Crysac's troops, Ko and the others picked their way forwards. It was impossible to put a foot down without it landing on a corpse. A cloud of flies, gathering even so early in the morning, rose from the bodies as they approached. Ko didn't want to look down, aware of the importance of watching the top of the trench as much as not wanting to see what was underfoot, but it was the only way to keep one's balance. One of Crysac's marines slipped somewhere in the awful mass and went down, flinging out an arm instinctively only for it to be lost up to the elbow in a dead man's spilled innards. Molt threw up somewhere behind her, and Ko was glad that they hadn't had time for breakfast. Most of the corpses were in Imperial scarlet with the trademark mottled blue skin of the Pelsinor race standing out in stark contrast. There were grey-clad Procyon soldiers there as well, tangled in the heap. Whether friend or foe, Ko tried not to look at their faces. The fighting had been vicious here. She saw two soldiers, Imperial and Procyon, lying with their hands wrapped around each other's throats. A little further on, two lay impaled on each other's bayonets. A section of trench with particularly mangled corpses must have seen a grenade burst and the horror that it had wreaked on flesh and bone was plain to see on the walls. Ko shook her head. The way some of these soldiers had died defied the imagination, suffering and indignity written on their faces as a last epitaph. She glanced up at the lip of the trench for a moment before looking back down. Her eyes were suddenly locked on those of a dead soldier, staring up at her from amid a pile of twisted limbs. A clawed hand, two fingers dangling by the skin, reached out at her imploringly, as if he sought her help – or her mercy..._

Ko's eyes opened and stared at the whitewashed ceiling of her cabin. For a moment the shadows lingered in their pale blue depths. It had been years since those memories had last surfaced – years since the disastrous military campaign that had been her baptism of fire, years since she had first arrived in the front lines of hell itself. It was a time she would never forget, but it wasn't one she ever dwelt on either and she had thought that she had successfully stowed the images away in her mind. They weren't supposed to make their own way back to the surface like that. Her blanket was wrapped around her messily, as if she'd been twisting and thrashing in the throes of the nightmare. It was probably a miracle that it hadn't put her damaged back out.

"Easy," she whispered to herself. "Easy now."

Gingerly, she freed herself and sat up, reaching for the autocandle by her bedside. It clicked on and she sat for a moment watching the small yellow flame. The vividness of the dream was still with her and she could feel her heartrate slowing as she forced herself to relax. Picking up the light and pulling on her uniform, she made her way through the ship's darkened corridors to the sickbay, seeking out the one other person on board whom she trusted to understand.

"Doc?"

There was a light on in the small cupboard that served as Gray's office. Ko had guessed right. Despite the lateness of the hour – so late, in fact, that it was early – the Surgeon-Commander was at her desk, poring over a textbook in a little pool of lamplight. She looked up at the interruption, her instinctive look of irritation fading immediately when she saw Ko in the doorway.

"You're working late, ma'am?"

Gray nodded. THERE WAS AN INCIDENT ON DECK.

"Yeah...I heard. I'm sorry to disturb you, ma'am," Ko was hesitant. "Especially when you've been dealing with something as serious as that..."

Gray shook her head and put her book aside. DON'T BE. WHAT IS IT?

"I...wondered if I could have a word with you."

ARE YOU HURT? YOUR BACK? Gray stood up. SIT.

Ko sighed and perched on the edge of the desk. Gray leaned over her and began probing her shoulders.

"My back's all right, doc," said Ko.

WE'LL SEE. Gray's hands moved down her spine, testing. Ko closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she spoke what was on her mind.

"Do you ever think of Badlanding, ma'am? That first campaign where we met?"

Gray looked up, one eyebrow raised and questions written all over her face. She drew back her hands and picked up her notebook again.

YOU'VE BEEN REMEMBERING?

"For the first time in years." Ko nodded. "Well...I don't know if it's a memory, but...I dreamed about it."

BAD DREAM?

"I suppose you could say that." Ko didn't like admitting it. Confessing to weakness didn't sit well with her – after all, she wasn't a kitten who could go running to her parents for comfort after a nightmare.

 _Not that I ever could do that_ , a thought suddenly rose inside her. She tensed for a moment and shook herself, hoping that Gray hadn't noticed. But Gray was tucking her uniform white coat around her as she sat next to Ko on the edge of the desk.

HAVE YOU EVER DREAMED ABOUT IT BEFORE?

"Never. I don't even think about it," said Ko. "There's not much about it that I'm happy to remember. Meeting you was the one good thing to come of it."

Gray felt an unaccustomed awkwardness. WHAT REMINDED YOU ABOUT IT?

"That's the thing, ma'am. Nothing. I went to bed as usual. And then...well." Ko pulled a face. "What could cause that?"

Gray frowned. Psychology did not feature highly on the Royal Navy's medical syllabus, and it annoyed her to think that there were ailments she could neither understand nor cure.

I DON'T KNOW.

Ko nodded and exhaled. "Glad I'm not alone there."

Gray shook her head. They sat in silence for a moment before Gray turned a page in her notebook and began writing again.

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED MY PROPOSITION YET? THE ONE I RAISED BEFORE WE SAILED?  
"Moving in with you when we get back to Crescentia?" said Ko. "Well, I won't lie and say it wouldn't be more comfortable than the barracks, but..."

IS THAT A 'YES'? Gray arched an eyebrow.

Ko sighed. "It's not that easy, ma'am."

IT WOULD BE ADVANTAGEOUS. YOU-

"Yes, I know. I'd get free access to the best surgeon in the fleet." Ko nodded at her sadly. "The point is...what would _you_ get out of it? I'm not much use to anyone now. I can't even look out for you like I used to because of my blasted back."

YOU DID FINE YESTERDAY IN THE SICKBAY.

"I was lucky I was armed." Ko gave a small smile. "I do tend to react...kinetically when people are threatening you."

I KNOW. There was a spark of amusement in Gray's eyes. I FIND IT ENDEARING.

"Endearing, ma'am?" Ko looked up quizzically. Gray coughed and avoided her eyes by writing hastily on a new page of her notebook.

THE POINT IS THAT COHABITATION WOULD BE MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL.

"I just...don't see how. It doesn't feel like I'd be bringing much to the arrangement. And I can't take advantage of you." Ko shook her head. "It wouldn't be fair."

Gray's eyes flickered briefly as she thought of something to say. YOU WOULDN'T BE TAKING ADVANTAGE.

Ko looked up at her doubtfully. Gray raised a hesitant hand to the scarred side of her face.

KEEP CONSIDERING IT. PLEASE.

The last word appeared so seldom in Gray's writing that Ko's heart would have stopped at the sight of it had it not already skipped a beat at the touch of Gray's hand on her cheek. She was so busy staring that she forgot to look at Gray's face, and thus she missed the complex series of emotions that played over it for the short instant before the surgeon's usual inscrutable mask returned.

"I...I will, ma'am."

Gray nodded. TELL ME IF THESE DREAMS RECUR.

"Yes, ma'am. I promise."

* * *

Below, the dead star turned, bathing the orbiting ships in a ghostly half-light.


	5. Chapter 5

The ship's company gathered on the foredeck in the grey morning light. A beacon rocket sat on its launch ramp pointing out over the port bow, a shrouded shape attached to its upper surface underneath a draped Imperial flag. Doppler kept a respectful distance by the side railing behind the crowd. Compared to the earlier memorial service, Partridge's departure felt far more low-key, despite the same presence of a Royal Marine honour guard and the presiding over of the ceremony by Amelia and Rennier. The Admiral stood at a small lectern, reading from a large book bound in red leather.

"We commit the soul of the departed to the care of the eternal powers of the etherium," Amelia said, her voice loud and clear as it rang across the deck, "and we commit his body to the skies in the sure and certain knowledge of the day when the stars shall give up their dead and they who now sleep lost amongst them shall be returned to us in whole. Lest we forget."

There was a murmur of assent from the crew. Amelia closed the book and stepped away, letting Lieutenant Kilroy and an engineer rating past to prepare the beacon. Doppler watched as they worked in silent efficiency, jumping as the honour guard fired its three volleys at Tansley's command. As the marines lowered their rifles, Kilroy turned to Rennier and saluted.

"Ready for launch, sir."

"Thank you, Mr Kilroy. You may proceed." Rennier turned to face the crew, raising his voice. "Crew! Attention!"

The assembled ranks stood to as the flag covering Partridge's body was respectfully removed and folded away. As the crew gave a last salute, Kilroy touched a control on the launch ramp and stepped back, and for a moment Doppler wondered whether something had gone wrong before there was a hiss of compressed air and the beacon launched itself into space. After travelling around fifteen metres, the rocket motor ignited with a rush and propelled the beacon and its sad cargo into the distance, the engine flare soon lost amid the shifting haze of the Fraser Current.

"Ship's company, stand easy!" Rennier looked expectantly at Amelia, who nodded.

"Very good, Captain. Dismiss the crew."

"Aye, aye, ma'am." Rennier touched his hat and turned to the crowd. "Crew! Dismissed!"

The crowd broke up, those crew on watch going to their stations or starting to take down the launch ramp and lectern. A few others lingered, looking pensively out into space before being chivvied on their way by watchful petty officers. Most of the rest congregated around the foremast where the ship's bosun stood up on a barrel and began conducting the traditional auction of the dead man's personal effects. Doppler looked on, lost in thought, as the bidding began.

"It's to raise money for the deceased's family," said Aurora, joining him at the railing and interrupting his reverie. "It's never very much. But it's something. A gesture of solidarity from the fallen one's comrades, if nothing else."

"Yes. It's a touching custom, in its way." Doppler smiled sadly. "I sometimes wonder whether I should put in a bid, but at the same time I wonder if it would be disrespectful for someone like me to intrude."

"It's probably best to leave the crew to it," Aurora agreed. "I think it helps them in a way. With their own grief, I mean. An outsider may not be welcomed, even if they are well-intentioned."

"I thought so. Thank you for the advice." Doppler nodded.

"Any time, doctor." Aurora began following him aft. "So you'll be back across on the _Black Knight_ today?"

"As soon as Mr Kilroy is ready." Doppler looked around at the engineer, who was supervising the launch ramp's dismantling. "We have a lot to do."

"So I've heard," Aurora said. "It all sounds fascinating."

"Yes...though of course I'd prefer it if the circumstances were happier and...well, less pressing," Doppler admitted. "I wish I could have you there working with us, though. Two is a pretty small team to investigate something so huge."

"I'm neither a practical engineer nor a theoretical physicist," Aurora gave him a small smile. "But thank you for the vote of confidence. In any case, I'm needed here to run your program of observations."

"Of course. I hope that's all going to plan?"

"No problems yet. Not much data either, of course." Aurora shrugged. "Though the spectroscopic analysis has turned up some interesting results."

"Oh, yes?" Despite the distraction of the _Black Knight_ , Doppler's astronomical curiosity got the better of him.

"There's hardly any hydrogen left at all, as you'd expect. And it's unevenly distributed. As if the star didn't shed its outer layers evenly, and is still trying to correct the imbalance," said Aurora. "Most of what's left are the heavier elements like iron. Plus a few things from the unfashionable end of the periodic table."

"That's to be expected," said Doppler. "And the iron goes some way towards explaining the strength of the magnetic fields. With nothing to fuel the fusion in the stellar core, the fields would collapse together and concentrate. No wonder they're strong enough to block the wind."

"Precisely my thoughts." Aurora smiled. "I suppose that means I'm on the right track, at least."

"It sounds like you're doing perfectly," Doppler patted her shoulder encouragingly. "I knew I could count on you."

Amelia was standing at the bottom of the bridge stairs in discussion with Constantine and Tansley. She looked up as Doppler approached and gave him a welcoming smile.

"Good morning, doctor," she said. "I trust you slept well?"

"Fine, thank you," Doppler thought about asking her the same thing, but decided not to since it was clear from her eyes that she hadn't and he knew better than to force her to either lie or admit to frailty in front of her officers. "That was a beautiful service."

"Well, needs must." Amelia straightened her jacket briskly. "Space burials are relatively rare these days, but there's nowhere to keep him on board what with the power shortages...and the Fraser Current should see that he comes to no harm."

Doppler thought about the black hole at the current's end and held his tongue. Still, he couldn't argue with the proposition that a black hole promised a neater end than an unending drift at the mercy of any passing zaftwings or skysharks.

"If only we had enough beacon rockets to move the whole ship, eh, ma'am?" said Tansley.

"If wishes were horses, Major, beggars would ride," said Amelia. "Do you have everything you need for today, doctor?"

"Yes, thank you." Doppler said. "I'm on my way over to the _Black Knight_ now. Mr Kilroy and I are hoping to work out what that central tunnel is for."

"Very well," Amelia nodded. "But don't forget your mission, doctor. We need that ship's engines back online."

"Of course," Doppler looked a little hurt, and Amelia instantly regretted her direction. She turned to Constantine to cover her awkwardness.

"And you're prepared as well, Lieutenant-Commander?"

"Yes, ma'am. Repairs to the hull are complete and the carpenter has confirmed that we've enough paint to get started on the refurbishing."

"Good. Work is the best remedy for idleness." Amelia stood straighter. "No need to rush it, either. The longer it's there, the longer the crew can focus on that instead of on our...situation."

"Understood, ma'am." Constantine touched his hat. "I'm sure they'll be glad of the occupation. The master-at-arms reported some concerns to me this morning during our brief ahead of the Requestmen and Defaulters session at 1100."

"What kind of concerns?" Amelia cocked an eyebrow.

"Rumours." Constantine shrugged. "Nothing serious. But I think some of the salvors we brought on board have been talking. And they've all heard what happened in the sick bay when the Surgeon-Commander was attacked."

"What are they saying?" asked Tansley. "I've not heard anything from my sentries."

"It's just idle berth deck chatter at the moment," said Constantine. "But...they're talking about the _Black Knight_. They're saying...it's cursed."

* * *

The _Lyonesse_ 's brig was low down by the keel and set against the hull such that one wall curved inwards, reducing the already-modest space still further. Despite the daylight outside, it was dark and shadowy as there were no scuttles or skylights to provide illumination. Lighting was instead provided by fluorescent globes set into the wall, but these had been turned off and so it lay in darkness aside from the pool of light surrounding the entrance. Similarly, the brig was situated unfavourably close to the ship's main drive and noise and vibration were normally constant as a result, but with the engines powered down and with minimal air circulation through the vents, the area was disconcertingly silent and still. The barred metal grate was locked and guarded by a pair of marine sentries, who snapped to attention as two figures approached, one carrying a lantern and the other a leather satchel.

"Surgeon-Commander, ma'am. Sergeant-Major." The soldiers saluted.

I'M HERE TO SEE THE PATIENT. Gray held up a written note.

"Very good, ma'am." The first sentry stood aside and produced a set of heavy keys. "I'll have to accompany you to see him, though. Captain's orders."

"Belay that, corporal," Ko shook her head. "I'll go with the doctor."

"Sarge?"

"I'll keep her covered." Ko patted her holstered laslock. "As per Captain Rennier's directions."

The marine nodded. "As you wish, sarge."

He opened the lock and drew back the gate. Gray nodded her thanks and walked through, Ko following close behind. The cell was small, the cot hanging from the wall occupying most of the floorspace. Falk, the young salvor lay upon it, a bandage around his head and an intravenous drip connected to one arm. As Gray knelt and opened her medical kit, Ko hung the lantern on the barred door and stood behind her. Gray looked around at a metallic sound. Ko had drawn her sidearm and was aiming it squarely at Falk's chest. The surgeon raised an eyebrow questioningly. Ko caught her expression and tightened her grip on the pistol.

"Just being careful, ma'am. I can't let him hurt you again. And if he tries, I'll put him down for good this time."

Gray nodded, but placed a hand on Ko's wrist to gently pressure her into lowering the weapon. Ko resisted for a moment before relenting and standing back. Gray returned to the patient, lifting his head and unwrapping the bandage. She removed a medicated pad from the back of it, checking it for blood, and took a new one from her kit.

"How is he, doc?"

Gray nodded again. She produced a fresh bandage and began replacing the old one. Ko watched Falk's face for even the faintest sign of reaction, but there was nothing. Gray stood up and began checking the intravenous drip. Finding it near empty, she bent down and took a canister of electrolytic fluid from her kit and went to stand up again.

"Doc!"

Ko's warning came a fraction of a second too late. Falk's hand was suddenly clutching the sleeve of her white coat. His eyes opened and focused on her with a sudden, strange clarity.

"Don't bother," he said calmly. "I'm not the one who needs help now."

Gray went for her notebook, but Falk's grip was too tight. She looked around at Ko, who had stepped forwards, laslock raised and aimed, and hurriedly waved to her. Understanding, Ko stopped and lowered the pistol.

"What do you mean, spacer?" she asked.

"You should leave," said Falk. "All of you. Before it's too late."

"Before _what's_ too late?"

"It gets to you, you know." Falk looked up at her. "It gets into your head. Worms its way in. You can probably feel it already. A creeping darkness in your brain..."

Ko blinked as a memory of her nightmare rose unbidden in her mind. "I...don't know what you mean."

"You will," Falk said. "If you stay here. But if you stay, you can't leave. It'll take you. Keep you. That's why I tried to leave...I tried so hard. That's why you have to go. I tried to help you, too, but...now it's too late...too late..."

He closed his eyes. Gray felt his grip on her sleeve relax and she quickly moved to check on him, but he was already unconscious again, his hand falling limply back onto the cot. Ko stared.

"Wh...what was that all about, ma'am?"

Gray shook her head, frowning as she took out her notebook.

I DON'T KNOW, she wrote. BUT WE NEED TO FIND OUT.

* * *

 _They're saying it's cursed._

The words kept surfacing in Doppler's mind, even as he tried to concentrate on the task at hand. His headache wasn't helping, either. Frowning deeply, he shook his head and refocused his attention. He and Kilroy were standing on the control platform in the middle of the _Black Knight_ 's brightly-lit generator room and working to decipher the complex controls. Activating them was easy enough – a simple touch to the plain surface of the console called up a three-dimensional control panel consisting of green glowing runes, very similar to the interface which had operated the gateway device on Treasure Planet. Fortunately, the Forefathers took the same intuitive design approach towards their spacecraft controls as they took to their interstellar portals and Doppler was reasonably confident that he wouldn't accidentally cause anything to explode.

"All right," he said. "I _think_ I'm getting the hang of this. It looks like there's some sort of...containment device here."

"That's stating the obvious, isn't it?" said Kilroy, who had opened up a panel in the floor and was probing around inside it with a voltage tester. "I mean, whatever's in these cylinders here must be pretty powerful stuff to still be live after all these years."

"Yes, but it's what _sort_ of containment device," said Doppler. "It's not like a bottle with a cork in it. It's forcefields wrapped around forcefields."

"It's taking a lot of power, that's for sure." Kilroy looked at the meter in his hands. "There's almost as much power coming into this chamber as there is leaving it. But even that tiny fraction of surplus is enough to run the whole ship. So what is it that's so energetic that they need to build such a massive containment system?"

"I'm not sure." Doppler frowned. "I'm trying to find out by examining the forcefields..."

"Well, as interesting as that no doubt it, you might like to know about this." Kilroy stood up and joined Doppler at the console, a clipboard in his hands. "Look at how many of these big power conduits lead to that central inlet tunnel."

Doppler studied the diagram that the engineer had sketched out. "Goodness me...it's drawing an enormous amount of power."

"That's just it, though," said Kilroy. "It's not, even though it can. None of those conduits are active now."

"None of them?" Doppler looked up in surprise. "What does that mean?"

"It means that the machinery in that tunnel isn't switched on," said Kilroy. "Whatever it's for, it isn't something that the ship uses constantly."

"Unlike the containment fields in here," said Doppler. "And yet that tunnel leads straight here. Have you studied the machinery in there?"

"Not yet." Kilroy shook his head. "But I think I've got a few ideas about what it could be."

"I'm not surprised." Doppler looked up. "So do I. I think that tunnel is how they got the fuel into this generator. It's an inlet or an intake, just like you said. And that fuel is what's in these cylinders."

"And they said you weren't a nuts-and-bolts kind of man," Kilroy grinned. "Just what I was thinking. The question is: how?"

"Precisely." Doppler smiled. "Let's go and find out, shall we?"

* * *

The lanterns were lit around the _Lyonesse_ as darkness crept in. Doppler stepped into Amelia's stateroom, a bundle of notepads under one arm. Three places had been set at the far end of the long conference table, but Amelia and Aurora were standing at the closer end, poring over a scattering of charts.

"Ah, doctor. You're just in time for dinner." Amelia straightened up and smiled. "It's good to see you."

"And you, Amelia." Doppler smiled back. "Hello, Aurora. Any trouble with the observations today?"

"Not at all," Aurora said. "I was just calculating how far we must have drifted with the current since we got stuck here."

Doppler looked at the chart where she had been working with a red pencil and a ruler. "Oh? That's not as far as I'd have expected."

"Well, the core's pretty heavy," said Aurora. "Even the Fraser Current can't push it along too fast. Call it a silver lining."

"Of course." Doppler chuckled. "I should have thought of that."

"Well, you've had your mind on other things," said Amelia. "Or so I hope, anyway. Have you made any progress on the _Black Knight_?"

"Yes, in fact." Doppler smiled. "That central tunnel I told you about? We've worked out what it is. It's lined with graviton inducers."

"Lined with what?"

"It's a tractor beam projector. Think of it like a...a kind of vacuum cleaner," said Doppler. "It creates a directional gravity field to draw things into it."

"Is that...possible?" asked Aurora.

"We never thought so," said Doppler. "I knew someone at university who wrote a thesis on graviton inducers. The theory is sound but nobody has ever made the hardware to make it work in practice."

"Except the Forefathers," smiled Amelia.

"Whose technology appears to treat the laws of physics as guidelines." Doppler nodded. "We think it's some kind of fuel intake. It leads directly to the generator room, so whatever it draws in would be funnelled straight into containment there."

"Do you know what it uses for fuel?"

"No. That's tomorrow's project." Doppler shook his head. "We set up some instruments to analyse the containment fields, though, and that should give us a clue. I'm rather looking forward to it."

There was a gentle creak of wood as Simons the steward opened the door from his small galley and entered the stateroom carrying a tray laden with three plates, which he began setting up at the set places at the table.

"Dinner's served, ma'am."

"Thank you, Mr Simons." Amelia nodded. "I'm afraid I took the liberty of assuming that you'll be joining us, doctor?"

"I'd be more than glad to." Doppler sat down as Simons withdrew.

"Enjoy it while you can," said Amelia. "It'll be the last proper meal you'll see for a while. We're moving to a stricter ration level from tomorrow."

"Oh." Doppler looked down at his plate. "Er, for how long?"

"For as long as it takes," Amelia replied. "You see, we only embarked enough food to last as long as we expected the journey home to take. But now...well, we have to be careful. We're still within the expected consumption, but who knows how long we'll be stuck here?"

"Yes, I do see your point," said Doppler. "Better safe than sorry."

"Quite so." Amelia nodded. "Although...it's a double-edged sword. Reducing the rations won't be popular, and the crew are under enough stress as it is. It's a necessary step, but it can only increase the tension in the short term. Not to mention give the crew something else to talk about, as if they haven't got enough already."

"Yes, I heard that talk about the _Black Knight_ being cursed," said Doppler. "But...well, you can't actually believe that, can you?"

"Unfortunately, Delbert, not all of our spacefaring kin share your rational mind," Amelia smiled thinly. "Most spacers are superstitious when you get right down to it. It's a natural reaction to living and working in a fickle and uncontrollable environment. And stories about ghost ships have been a staple of the canon for centuries. Whatever those of us in this room may think on the subject, those rumours will be spreading like wildfire throughout the berth deck."

"So...what will that mean?" Doppler looked from Amelia to Aurora and back again. Amelia sighed.

"Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. It's impossible to know at this stage. There's an old joke that you should only start worrying when the crew _isn't_ complaining about something, but I've always felt that to be a rather poor yardstick for leadership."

"You don't think there could be a...a mutiny, do you?" Doppler tried to sound nonchalant.

"Mutiny?" Amelia shook her head. "This is a Royal Navy flagship, not some damned salvage scow. Our crew are professionals, not mercenaries or con artists embarked on a get-rich-quick scam at the expense of desperate merchantmen. But...all that said...everyone has a breaking point. And a becalmed ship running out of supplies while being dragged slowly but inexorably into a distant black hole is rather closer to that point than I'd like to be. Mutinies are rare...but they have happened, and they've happened in circumstances far less trying than what we may yet find ourselves in."

"Well," Doppler gave what he hoped was an encouraging smile. "You won't keep us here any longer than necessary. I certainly haven't lost any faith in you."

"Nor have I, ma'am," said Aurora.

"Thank you both," Amelia smiled briefly. "But I'm afraid that the question of how long we're to spend in this place is one that only you two can answer. My role now is to work with Captain Rennier to hold this ship and crew together while you work your respective scientific miracles."

"Oh. Yes. Well." Doppler coughed uneasily, not entirely sure how to react to such a frank admission of powerlessness from his commanding wife. "I'm sure we'll both do our best."

"Quite right, doctor." Aurora looked at Amelia. "Neither of us would want to let you down, ma'am."

"And neither of you ever could," Amelia's smile was more genuine this time. "Let me assure you that, when I think about the weak links that may be aboard, your names do not spring to mind."

"I'm pleased to hear it," Doppler smiled back. "But...can I ask how you're handling the situation? I mean...you personally, Amelia."

"Excuse me?" Amelia looked up at him in surprise.

Doppler fidgeted. "Well...I can tell that you're under pressure. Which is perfectly understandable, of course. But if you need any help...you know I'm here, don't you? And so is Aurora."

"Yes, I...I know." Amelia nodded and looked away. "And I'll be all right. It's just that, to be brutally honest with you, I don't have much to do at the moment. And that gives me too much time to think."

"What about, ma'am?" asked Aurora quietly.

Amelia's eyes flickered before she closed them and answered. "The past."

"Oh." Doppler was sure to keep his tone careful, knowing that there were some parts of Amelia's history that she didn't like talking about.

"There are parts of it I'm not proud of," Amelia went on softly. "Times when I could have done more. Or differently. And...certain things have been happening that have reminded me of that." She didn't think it was a good time to mention what, or who, she had seen - _kept seeing_ \- in reflections.

"I'm sure you only ever did your best," said Doppler.

"And sometimes it wasn't enough," Amelia sighed. "Do you know how many people I've lost over the years?"

"None of that was your fault," Doppler reached across the table to her. "I'm sure that having to write all those letters has brought back a lot of memories, but you mustn't blame yourself. What did you once describe it as to me? The price of admiralty? Whatever you did, I'm sure it's what the Navy would have expected of you."

"Not always," Amelia smiled sardonically. "There's a reason I resigned and went into the Reserves for all those years I was running with the _Legacy_."

"Even so," said Doppler. "Don't be hard on yourself. Whatever you had to do, you always got your ship home at the end of it all. And I'm sure you'll do it again now."

Before Amelia could reply, there was a sudden knock on the door and a voice called out from the other side.

" _Admiral! You're needed urgently!"_

"I'm on my way!" Amelia stood up, instantly brisk and businesslike again. "You two had better come with me."

"Us? Er, all right." Doppler followed uneasily, hoping that he wouldn't embarrass himself in whatever situation had developed. To his surprise, the grim-faced Royal Marine who had called for Amelia did not turn and lead the small group up to the bridge, but down into the depths of the _Lyonesse_ , down passageways he had never walked before, carrying a glowing lantern mounted on a short pole.

"Where in space are we going?" he whispered to Aurora.

"To the brig," Aurora replied. "But what could have happened there that would need the Admiral's attention?"

"Nothing good, I suspect," muttered Doppler.

The question was soon answered. The narrow entrance to the ship's brig was already busy by the time they arrived. Another marine sentry was standing by, along with Tansley and Ko, all of them also carrying lit lanterns. Two of Gray's white-uniformed orderlies were there with a folding stretcher held between them and, as they approached, Gray herself emerged from the open cell, stripping a pair of rubber gloves from her hands and shaking her head.

"Admiral on the deck!" The sentry snapped to attention as he called out the warning. Amelia waved her hand as she acknowledged the salute.

"Let's get straight to business here. What's going on, Major?" Amelia's tone was curt.

Tansley touched his hat to her. "The priso – the patient, ma'am. The guard found him."

" _Found_ him?" Amelia cocked an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

HE'S DEAD. Gray held up a note.

"Oh, no," Doppler murmured.

"He died of his injuries?" Amelia turned to the surgeon, who shook her head.

NOT THE PHYSICAL ONES.

Amelia felt her heart sink as she understood. "You'd better let me see him. Not you, Flag-Lieutenant. You stay here with Dr Doppler."

"Aye, ma'am." Aurora nodded, secretly grateful for being spared whatever sight Amelia had been summoned to witness. The Admiral, however, stepped forward. It was only a few paces before she was able to see through the cell's open door. Falk's body lay on the cot under a white blanket. There was no pillow under his head, but Amelia could see at a glance that it had been ripped open and stuffing sat in a neat pile by the bedside. The pillowcase was in a silver bowl on the floor, stained dark with fluids.

I TOOK IT OUT OF HIS THROAT. Gray, stony-faced, passed a note to Amelia. HE SWALLOWED IT AND SUFFOCATED.

"When?"

Gray nodded. WITHIN THE LAST THIRTY MINUTES, BETWEEN THE SENTRY'S REGULAR INSPECTIONS.

Amelia drew back the blanket. Falk looked surprisingly calm. Someone had already closed his eyes and it almost looked as if he merely slept. Knowing the truth and finding it all to easy to imagine what had happened in the small room, she grimaced and covered him back up.

"Very well. Make any arrangements you see fit, and ensure that a copy of your report goes to Major Tansley and the master-at-arms as well as to myself and the Captain." Amelia turned away, glad to put the awful cell behind her.

"We've informed Captain Rennier, ma'am," said Ko. "He's on his way. And Mr Sorensen as well."

Amelia's ears flattened briefly at the mention of the head salvor. "And you'll be interviewing the sentries to find out what they might have seen or heard? Then I'll expect your report on my desk along with Commander Gray's. Carry on, Major."

She rejoined Aurora and Doppler, who were hovering anxiously at the side of the scene. Her expression was dark, and made darker still by the shadows cast by the burning lanterns. Doppler cleared his throat before he started to ask the question, already knowing the answer.

"Er...is he..?"

"Yes."

"And...was it sui-"

" _Yes_." Amelia nodded.

"The poor fellow." Doppler shook his head. "How bad must things be before a person would think of doing that?"

"We pray for souls adrift on the tide," said Aurora quietly.

"So we do," said Amelia. "Let's get topside again."

Doppler nodded wordlessly and followed her, finding his appetite suddenly much reduced, and his headache back and worse than ever.

"Doc?" Behind them, Ko stepped up next to Gray and watched her face carefully as the surgeon began supervising the body's removal by her orderlies. She knew better than most how badly it could hurt Gray to lose a patient, and to lose them under such circumstances was unprecedented. Gray glanced sideways at Ko and caught the question in her eyes. It was a question she had silently asked her across a dozen scenes of death and suffering, though none quite as uniquely harrowing as this one. She didn't take out her notebook, but she nodded.

"Right." Ko nodded back and turned to look as the stretcher was loaded and covered.

Gray looked at her closely. There was still a question in the marine's pale blue eyes, but it wasn't _are you all right?_ now. It was _how many more?_

And she wished she knew the answer.


	6. Chapter 6

The rationing was announced the next morning. The reception was muted, which in its way was even more disconcerting than a strong reaction in either direction. There were a few isolated mutters when Captain Rennier read out the order, but they were quickly quelled by watchful glances from the divisional officers. Normal business then resumed, with the sole but noticeable addition of an armed marine guard on the holds containing the ship's food stores.

Fortunately, there was no concern around water – the Fraser Current drew in clouds from the surrounding space such that Aurora's observations revealed that there was an elevated level of water vapour even near the orphan core. Rennier had collector vanes run out, great gossamer sails that attracted and condensed water out of the air. Normally they billowed and flowed like vast white wings, but in the windless vicinity of the orphan core they merely hung shapelessly like huge, listless jellyfish. Even so, they worked, and the fact that the water had to be pumped into the tanks by hand gave the crew a further distraction from their mounting concerns. The painting of the hull proceeded slowly, the officers making sure the crew took their time by being even more exacting than usual, leading to some good-natured grumbling even as, over several days, the flagship slowly took on the kind of appearance normally reserved for a royal inspection. Doppler was glad of spending so much time on the _Black Knight_ as the paint fumes irritated his sensitive canid nose and threatened to make his recurring headaches even worse, but the mornings before the painting started were bearable and, no matter how keen he was to get back to examining the alien ship, he was always punctilious in joining Amelia for breakfast.

"Admiral?" He stepped into her stateroom and found her sitting behind her desk as she was on most mornings, a cup of hot coffee by her side and her blue coat slung across the back of her chair. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Welcome, doctor. Thank you for joining me."

"It's my pleasure as always." Doppler smiled back and nodded to Simons, who was setting the end of the table for two. "Hello, Mr Simons."

"Good morning, sir. Breakfast'll be ready in a minute or two." The steward gave a small bow.

"Very good." Amelia tapped her cup. "Would you like something to drink, doctor? How are we off for coffee, Mr Simons?"

Simons hesitated. "Er...there's a half a pound of beans left, ma'am, but they've gone bad. Most of 'em are growing fur."

"Ah." Amelia sighed. "Oh, well. See what can be done with them. Perhaps the ship's cook will know a trick or two. Do sit down, doctor. I'll be with you momentarily."

Doppler sat at the table and sipped at the glass of water that was set out for him. He watched Amelia carefully, noting with concern the circles under her eyes and the tired shadows within them. She was reading something intently and an uncomfortable silence dragged out until Simons had returned to serve the breakfast and then withdrawn. Doppler looked at the plates - two small omelettes made from powdered egg - and tried to think of something to say.

"So..." he coughed.

"Forgive my neglect." Amelia looked up apologetically. "I'm reading the agenda for today's Requestmen and Defaulters. It's rather longer than I'd like it to be."

"Oh?" Doppler sat forward politely. The Requestmen and Defaulters sessions were held every few days, presided over by Lieutenant-Commander Constantine as the next most senior officer to Captain Rennier and by the master-at-arms as the ship's senior NCO. Their purpose was to deal with any of the enlisted crew's petitions or disciplinary matters too serious to be handled by the relevant divisional officers and petty officers but which were not yet of sufficient gravity to warrant Rennier's personal attention. They were just one of many aspects of shipboard life that Doppler was only dimly aware of, but that Amelia was taking an interest in them was a sure sign of their importance.

"The number of matters is up. Considerably so." Amelia tapped the paper. "Still mostly requests, at least."

"Good?" Doppler tried.

"No. But better than infractions." Amelia put the paper aside, accidentally dislodging a folder which slipped to the floor. She hissed a curse and stood up, but Doppler reached down and fielded it first. As he straightened up to return it to her desk, he caught the titles on the pages.

"Oh...these are the reports on Mr Falk's death?"

"Yes." Amelia put the folder back. "One from Dr Gray. One from Major Tansley. And neither telling me what I need to know."

"About Falk? You could always ask Mr Sorensen," Doppler suggested.

"He's told us everything he'll ever tell us." Amelia drummed her fingers on her desk. "And I still don't trust his story about the mutiny. I've had Major Tansley interview the other salvors as well and there are bits and pieces of their stories that...just don't quite add up."

"How do you mean?"

"Their accounts of when the mutiny broke out on their ship differ." Amelia steepled her fingers. "I suppose a certain degree of confusion is understandable, but..."

She shook her head. "Never mind. Perhaps I'm being too suspicious."

"You're certainly doing too much of something." Doppler stood up and went to her. "You haven't been sleeping properly. And don't look at me as if I don't know you, Amelia," he added. "I can tell when you're tired even if nobody else on this ship can."

Amelia looked down and then away. "I...haven't slept well for a couple of nights. That's all."

"More than a couple, I'd say," Doppler rested a hand on her shoulder. "More like...not since we got stuck here. And it's not because you're staying up and working late because there isn't that much work you're needed for, at least not now that those letters are all done."

Amelia gave him a small smile. "You're infuriatingly perceptive sometimes, Delbert. Is it really that obvious?"

"To me? Yes." Doppler smiled back.

"I should never have agreed to have you on board." Amelia joked. She closed her eyes and nuzzled his hand with her cheek. Doppler's smile softened at the touch of her fur against his – how he had missed that these past weeks – and he moved around behind her chair. Amelia looked up as he placed his hands on his shoulders, and then shivered exultantly as he began to massage her, his broad, padded fingers working into the tension of her muscles.

"Oh, my stars..."

"It feels like you needed this." Doppler smiled down at her. "There must be more knots in your shoulders than in...well, the ship's rigging."

"So it seems." Amelia closed her eyes and relaxed into his touch. "Thank you."

"It's what I'm here for." Doppler moved his hands towards her neck, rubbing his thumbs in circles along the nape. "And...you know there's nothing you can't tell me, don't you?"

Amelia opened her eyes. "You want to know why I'm not sleeping well, don't you?"

"I do." Doppler looked at her kindly. "And you said _I_ was the perceptive one."

Amelia's faint smile faded from her face as she turned it away. "I'm...not sure that you'd believe me..."

"I'd never think you were lying," said Doppler. "Please, Amelia...whatever it is, you don't have to carry this burden alone."

"But nor do you have to carry it," said Amelia quietly. "You're doing enough for us already."

"I'm not talking about 'us'," Doppler's tone was gentle. "I'm talking about you. Because I love you."

Amelia sighed, but there was a happiness at his words in it. She sat still for a long moment before she nodded.

"All right. But give me a moment, please? I'll go and freshen up before breakfast."

"Of course." Doppler stood back as she stood, squeezing his hand, and went to the wooden panel in the side wall that cleverly concealed the entry to the Admiral's private quarters. Stepping through and entering the quiet, white-painted calm of her washroom, Amelia ran her hands through her hair and then turned on the water in the small stainless steel sink.

" _How am I supposed to tell him that I think I'm going peculiar?"_ she muttered to herself. " _Never mind that I keep seeing-"_

Doppler, who had been looking blankly out the stern windows, turned his head sharply at the sudden sound of breaking glass.

"Amelia?"

The panelled door was still open a crack and he shoved it back in his haste. He hardly noticed as he barged into the flag officer's personal cabin that he was invading possibly the most sacred space on the ship as he looked around and saw Amelia standing stock still in the adjoining washroom. The tap in the sink was still running, but the oval-shaped mirror above it was broken, and bright shards of glass were scattered on the floor.

"Amelia!" He hastened towards her. She blinked and only seemed to notice him when his hand touched her shoulder. Her green eyes were wide and staring at the broken mirror.

"Amelia! My goodness, are you all right? You- oh, look at your hand!"

Amelia looked down. Her right hand was balled into a fist and the knuckles were bloodied.

"I...I don't..."

"What happened here?" He took her hand, his eyes filled with concern. "Did you...I mean, did you break the mirror? Why?"

Amelia closed her eyes and put her arms around him. "Delbert...I'm so sorry..."

"Don't be sorry." Doppler held her close as she sank to the floor, kneeling next to her and judiciously sweeping the broken glass away with the hem of his coat. "Just please...tell me..."

Amelia took a deep, shuddering breath.

"You know I've been thinking of Mr Arrow...what with writing those letters and all..."

"Yes?" Doppler took her hand tenderly.

"What would you say if I told you that...as well as thinking about him...I've been...seeing him?" Amelia looked up at her husband desperately. "In mirrors. Reflections. Just his face. Looking back at me."

"Seeing him?" Doppler was taken aback. Had it been almost anyone aside from Amelia, he'd have dismissed the concerns out of hand as clearly absurd. He might have laughed, or drawn back. But Amelia's tone was deadly serious and there was a pleading look in her eyes. "But that's – well, I don't need to tell you that's impossible. You must be imagining it."

"But it happens without me thinking about it," Amelia looked up at the shattered mirror above them. "Like just now...I saw him, reaching out as if to touch me...it took me by surprise."

"It must have done." Doppler cradled her to his chest.

"Do you think I'm losing my mind?" Amelia whispered.

"Of course not. But you're obviously under a lot of pressure." Doppler kissed the top of her head. "Have you thought of seeing Dr Gray about this?"

Amelia chuckled. "She'd relieve me of command due to medical incapacity, I fancy."

"Have you told anyone, then? What about Aurora?"

"No. I wouldn't want to burden her any more than I want to burden you." Amelia shook her head. "Besides, she's got problems enough. You know she blames herself for us being stuck here?"

Doppler sighed. "I hoped she'd moved on from that..."

"Something isn't letting her. Just like how something won't let me stop seeing Arrow in every bloody reflection." Amelia shook her head again. "Something is _wrong_ , Delbert. _Something_ caused the mutiny on the salvage ship. _Something_ killed Falk as surely as if it had put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. And now..."

"That's what you were looking for in those reports?" Doppler nodded. "Stress is a very powerful emotion, Amelia. And you've been working and worrying yourself so much recently. Not just since we came here, either, but for weeks – ever since we began chasing the Crimson Corsair, remember? That must all add up some time."

"I suppose so..."

"Of course it does." Doppler stroked her. "It's only natural. You should give yourself some space and time. Delegation of duty isn't the same as dereliction, after all."

"But this is my flagship," Amelia murmured. "These are _my_ people. I can't lose them the way I lost Arrow."

"And you won't." Doppler assured her. "But you can't help anyone by working yourself to death either. So...just try to relax. Really. Doctor's orders."

Amelia smiled. "I thought you weren't that sort of doctor."

"I never said that I was." Doppler smiled back. "I'm just the kind who loves you."

"Very forceful, though." Amelia's smile softened. Doppler's did as well as they remembered a similar exchange between them on Treasure Planet. But then he saw Amelia's smile freeze and fall away and he cursed himself for having forgotten what other memories of hers might be easily associated with that adventure.

"What happens when you fall into a black hole?" Amelia asked quietly.

Doppler hesitated before replying, torn between giving the factual answer and the comforting one. Instead, he compromised by telling the truth.

"Nobody knows for sure," he said. "Conventional physics stops working when you cross the boundary of a black hole and it gives up altogether when you reach the singularity at the centre. There are all kinds of theories, but it's impossible to prove any of them."

"Would he have suffered?" Amelia didn't need to add the name.

"I don't know." Once again, Doppler opted for a kind of honesty, knowing that now was not a good time to start talking about absolute horizons, Schwarzschild radii, tidal forces, the effects of non-homogeneous gravitational fields on a moving body and other black hole-related esoterica. Amelia wasn't asking for an astrophysics tutorial.

"I've heard that some people think that black holes are...gateways. To the past, or the future, or other universes." Amelia gave a small smile. "Is that possible? It's comforting somehow to think that he might still be alive somewhere."

"I certainly can't rule it out," said Doppler carefully.

Amelia nodded and then sat up, wordlessly drawing a firm line under the conversation up until that point.

"Well," she said. "None of this is getting any breakfast into us, is it?"

"No." Doppler helped her to her feet. "Are you sure you're all right, though? I mean...will you be?"

"Under the circumstances," Amelia tried to smile bravely. "I've very little choice."

"Just remember: you don't have to be strong all by yourself." Doppler stroked a lock of her auburn hair back from her face. "You might be the only Admiral on this ship, but you're not alone."

"I should never have forgotten." Amelia said. "Thank you."

Briefly, she buried her face in the wide lapels of his familiar old burgundy coat and breathed in his scent, closing her eyes. Doppler held her, and for a moment they were just husband and wife, alone with each other and their cares.

"Now." Amelia broke the embrace and looked up at him. "Let's go and make the most of the last of the coffee, shall we?"

"Of course." Doppler smiled and watched her leave. Then he sighed, shook his head and followed her, trying to avoid looking at the broken glass that lay on the floor.

* * *

Time seemed to pass more quickly on the _Black Knight_ for Doppler – perhaps it was the abundance of work into which he could throw himself, or the absence of windows which forced Kilroy and the physicist to work by the dim artificial light of the alien ship's endless passageways or the brilliant sunlight glow of the generator room. He was standing on the raised island platform in the middle of the brightly-lit chamber, copying out some notes with Lieutenant Kilroy. Doppler had always been the kind of person who could lose himself in his own thoughts, which was fortunate as it kept him from dwelling too much on his troubling conversation with Amelia as well as the low-grade headache at the back of his skull.

"So I'm pretty sure this is where the engines join up to the ship's power grid," Kilroy pointed to a spot on a carefully-drawn diagram he had rolled out on a folding table in front of them. "Well, most of it anyway. It's like everything is connected to everything else here. But this looks like where the control circuits all join up."

"And they're live?"

"No." Kilroy grimaced. "That's the bad news. There's a break in the circuits somewhere."

Doppler sighed. "Well...it's still progress of a sort."

"True." Kilroy straightened up. "I wish my kid brother was here, though. He was always the electrician of the family."

"You're not so shabby yourself, mind," said Doppler.

Kilroy chuckled. "Thanks, doc, but he was in a league all his own. Rewired the whole house almost as soon as he could crawl. He'd have loved to tackle something like this."

Doppler caught the choice of words. "Oh. So he's..."

"A fever." Kilroy nodded sadly. "Just before I shipped out to the Academy. Must have almost killed our parents to lose both of us so quickly."

"It must have been very hard for all of you." Doppler hesitated as something occurred to him. "You've been thinking of him recently?"

Kilroy nodded. "I think it's this ship. Like I said, he'd have loved to dive into a mystery like this. Anyway, if you don't mind, I've got to check the field meters on those containment cylinders."

"Of course." Doppler watched the engineer disappear over the side of the platform via a rope ladder brought over and rigged up for the purpose. It seemed that Amelia wasn't the only person remembering the tragedies of the past. He shook his head and returned his concentration to the notes, absorbing himself in their detail until footsteps on a metal grating made him look up in surprise. Kilroy was still clambering around on the chamber floor below, examining one of the containment cylinders, and it took Doppler a moment to recognise the visitor.

"Oh, hello, Mr Sorensen." He put down his pen. "What brings you here?"

"Just looking over the ship," the salvor nodded a greeting. "I'm keen to know what you lot have found out about her."

"More than I'd hoped so far," said Doppler. "And...if I may, I was very sorry about your crew member. What happened to him was..."

"Worse things happen in space, as they say," Sorensen smiled sadly. "But he was a good kid. A little out of his depth, but a good kid."

"Of course. Yes." Doppler looked away as Kilroy joined them, climbing back up the rope ladder, carrying a complicated-looking piece of equipment and a clipboard under his arm.

"I've got those results, doc," Kilroy passed the clipboard over and looked up. "Sorensen, right? How do you do?"

"That's right." Sorensen shook the engineer's hand and looked at the carefully-compiled stacks of notes around the platform. "Looks like you two lads have learned more about this ship in a few days than my crew were able to work out in weeks."

"It's all about having the right equipment and training," Kilroy shrugged. "But it's amazing what you can find out with a voltage meter and a bit of patience. The way this ship is wired up is just...well, astonishing. I've never seen circuitry this organic and interwoven. I've been trying to map it all out and I keep running out of room on the pages."

"You reckon you can do it though?" Sorensen asked. "Get her flying again?"

"We're getting there bit by bit." Kilroy nodded. "What do you say, doctor?"

"Hm? Oh. Yes." Doppler blinked at the distraction.

"Glad to hear it," said Sorensen. "It'd be a shame to lose her after everything we went through."

"Since we'll need the _Black Knight_ to escape, I doubt that you've any reason to fear her being left behind," said Kilroy.

"I hope not," Sorensen looked around the room. "It's cost us so much, but it could be our fortune...and I don't like giving up easy."

"This is remarkable," Doppler muttered, studying Kilroy's clipboard. "You're sure of these frequencies on the containment cylinders?"

"Absolutely sure," said Kilroy. "Triple-checked, and measured on four different cylinders. The containment systems are identical on all of them, so there's no chance it's just a freak result."

"What is it?" Sorensen tried to see.

"It's what's in all of these glowing cylinders," said Doppler, looking around the room, awestruck. "But I think it's more than that...I think we've just worked out just what kind of ship this is..."

* * *

Doppler waited impatiently as the longboat was winched back across to the _Lyonesse_ on the jackstay connecting the two ships together. The sky was darkening towards dusk already, and as the longboat finally swung over the familiar planks of the warship's deck, the bell rang out to signal a change of watch. Spacers moved to and fro, some leaving their stations and others going to replace them, which impeded his movement aft and only increased his impatience as he tried to make his way to the bridge.

"Lieutenant! Lieutenant Mayflower!"

Aurora, who had just taken up her position as officer of the incoming watch, looked up as he called her name from the quarterdeck. She moved to the bridge rail to reply.

"Doctor? Are you all right?"

"Perfectly, perfectly! But, um, I need your help." Doppler waved his notes. "Your measurements of the core – are they in the chartroom?"

"Yes, of course." Aurora frowned. "What do you need?"

"The results of your spectroscopic analysis," said Doppler. "Of the core's composition."

"Oh?" Aurora looked momentarily nonplussed. "Well...they're on the chart table in the green folder."

"Thank you." Doppler flashed her a brief smile and bustled off. Aurora watched him go curiously and wished she could leave the bridge to go with him.

"What was all that about, ma'am?" Midshipman Collis looked at her in puzzlement.

"I'm not rightly sure," Aurora shook her head and returned to the main console. "I can only assume that he's discovered something."

"Well, that's a good thing, right, ma'am?"

"I hope so, Mr Collis." Aurora ran her hand over the console, noting that the displays which normally showed the heartbeat of the flagship were dark and vacant. "I most certainly hope so."

Doppler tarried in the chartroom for only as long as it took him to be sure of his theory, and when he found the proof he was looking for he had to hold back a triumphant bark. He hurried back to the main deck as quickly as he could and turned aft to Amelia's cabin. The marine sentry outside touched his hat as Doppler approached.

"Good evening, sir."

"I need to see the Admiral, please," said Doppler. "Is she in?"

"She's in conference with the Captain, sir," the sentry hesitated. "But if it's urgent..."

"Er...well, it's certainly a matter of great interest..."

"Very good, sir. Just hold on a moment."

The sentry knocked on the door, waited for the reply, then nodded to Doppler and stood back.

"Away you go, sir."

"Thank you." Doppler hurried forward, opening the door and stepping through. Amelia and Rennier were sitting at the end of the conference table. Their combined looks brought Doppler up short and he self-consciously adjusted his ascot, which had become rumpled by his haste.

"Yes, doctor?" Amelia tried not to grin at his discomfort.

"Er...I apologise for the interruption..."

"Not at all," Amelia stood up. "Whatever it is, it must be important. You're fairly bursting to tell me."

"Er, yes, actually. It's..." Doppler cleared his throat. "I know what the _Black Knight_ is."

"Do you?" Amelia smiled at his evident pride. "Do tell."

"It's a mining ship." Doppler smiled back. "But it wasn't built to mine a planet or asteroids. It was built to mine _stars_."

"Is...that even possible?" asked Rennier, surprised.

"I think so," said Doppler. "I think that's what the graviton inducers – the tractor beam – is for. The ship can use that to...to strip-mine a star, drawing off the gases in the upper layers and drawing it into containment in the fuel cells in the generator room. It would explain why the containment system uses so much power."

"What makes you think all this?" Amelia leaned forwards.

"We analysed those fuel cells and found that they were almost completely filled with hydrogen," said Doppler, laying out papers on the table. "Plus a few trace elements. I compared those results to those of Auro- sorry, of Lieutenant Mayflower's spectral analysis of the core and there's a good match once you adjust the weightings. I think the _Black Knight_ was mining _this_ star. Maybe it even killed the star and turned it into the burnt-out core we see today."

"But what would they want with hydrogen?" Rennier looked up. "It's the most common element in the galaxy, isn't it?"

"Yes, but that's not the point," said Doppler. "It's what you can do with it. It's the raw material of the universe, the most basic building block. All of the heavier and more complex elements were derived from it through fusion in the heart of stars, and through the energies of supernovae. Once you've got hydrogen, if you're clever, you can synthesise it into...well, whatever you wanted. Gold. Titanium. Iridium. Anything, so long as you have enough energy. And hydrogen drawn from a star would already be highly energetic – that's why the _Black Knight_ uses it as a fuel source and why the containment system takes so much power."

"Excellent work, doctor," Amelia said approvingly. "Are you any closer to getting those engines back online?"

"Now that we know what fuel they use, we're certainly a lot closer than we were before," said Doppler. "Mr Kilroy has started mapping out the connections between the fuel cells and what we think might be the engine core."

"Very good. I look forward to your continued success." Amelia smiled. "Especially since there's one thing about your findings that I can't help noticing..."

"Yes?"

"If the _Black Knight_ 's crew brought her here to mine the star...why is _she_ still here?" Amelia looked up. "And _they're_ not."

"Oh...I see." Doppler scratched his head. "Yes...I hadn't thought of that."

"Do turn your mind to it if you can," said Amelia. "Because Mr Falk's fate was bad enough. But the disappearance of an entire crew, with no trace?"

"Perhaps they evacuated, ma'am?" suggested Rennier.

"Perhaps." Amelia conceded. She fixed Doppler with a stare. "But perhaps not. Because if whatever happened to Mr Falk happened to the _Black Knight_ 's crew, then that ship isn't just a derelict. It's a tomb. And if it happened to them, then it can happen to us."

* * *

After her watch ended, Aurora left the bridge in a pensive frame of mind and began making her way below, descending the companionway holding a lantern and turning to head for her cabin with a grateful sigh. She usually enjoyed the late watches, basking in the cool of the night air and enjoying the quiet of the ship in the few precious hours when its decks weren't busy with spacers and soldiers moving, working, shouting and acknowledging orders. But she could find no such solace in their present circumstances, where the life of the ship itself felt dormant and lifeless as it drifted and the orphan core below them cast its grey half-light on the orbiting ships, making everything seem monochromatic and forbidding. She was pleased to be relieved and able to get out of sight of the core's ghostly presence. Normally she'd have stopped by the wardroom on her way to her cabin to collect a warm drink, but the galley appliances had all been shut down to conserve power and even that small comfort was now out of reach.

There was a commotion coming from the berth deck below where the crew accommodation was – shouts and heavy thuds reverberating up the stairs. She hesitated for a moment – as one of the ship's specialist officers, she had no crew division of her own and so was seldom involved in disciplinary matters. But an officer she still was, and it was unthinkable that she'd turn a blind eye to such a ill-mannered ruckus. Aside from anything else, explaining it to Amelia or Rennier would be impossible. So she took a deep breath and turned towards the noise, heading down the stairs and fielding the first spacer who came running past her.

"What's going on in there?" she demanded.

"It's Patricker, ma'am! He's gone nuts! Just attacked Walton out of nowhere!"

Mental images formed in Aurora's mind. Patricker was an experienced gunner who'd been with the _Lyonesse_ since she came out of the yards while Walton was a younger topman who had been one of the many new recruits to join the ship just before she sailed. There was no reason she could think of for conflict between them, but that didn't matter right now.

"Why hasn't the duty Petty Officer seen to this?"

"He tried, ma'am, but Patricker...didn't even listen."

Aurora nodded briskly and set her face in what she hoped was a decisive expression as she handed the spacer her lantern.

"Right. Go and find the Captain or the Admiral. I'll deal with this."

"Careful, ma'am! He's lost it for real." The spacer darted off upstairs. Aurora pressed on, entering the berth deck and immediately seeing the knot of yelling spacers gathered around the trunk of the mainmast where two figures were grappling with each other. Through a gap in the crowd, she saw Patricker deal Walton a wild blow to the face that made a crunch of bone audible even from her distance and sent him sprawling to the deck. The violence of it took her aback for a moment, but then she steeled herself and stepped forward, raising her voice.

"Break it up, you two! I said, break it up!" She headed towards the brawl, her voice rising to a shout as Patricker continued his assault. "That's an order!"

The crew parted to let her through. She pushed her way forwards to where Patricker had picked up Walton, whose face was already covered in his own blood, and pinned him against the trunk of the mainmast. She reached out to grab Patricker's arm as he brought it back for another blow.

"Avast there, spacer! Stand down and let him-"

He moved too quickly even for her. As her hand closed on his elbow, he jerked and turned, dropping Walton and bringing his other hand around, already balled into a fist. Aurora's last words were cut off as he struck her full in the face, the shock of the punch more than the sudden pain dropping her to the deck with a startled cry. As she recovered and stared up at her assailant, lilac eyes wide with alarm, Aurora realised that the tumult had ceased. The crowded spacers were still and silent. You could have heard a pin drop. A line had just been crossed, a point of no return well and truly passed. Assault on an officer was a crime in the Navy's Articles of War comparable only to outright treason – in fact, it virtually _was_ treason by virtue of the fact that every officer bore their rank courtesy of a commission from the Queen herself. There was no variation, no excuses and no exception to the ironclad rule, or the inevitable sentence of death that it promised all transgressors. Even in his panicky state, Patricker seemed to realise this as well and he stood dumbly, swaying slightly as the enormity of his action sank in.

"Make way, there!" Amelia's voice cut sharply through the silence. She was marching along the deck towards them, flanked by Tansley and Ko, two armed marines following along behind. "Spacers, make way!"

"Ma'am!" Aurora scrambled to her feet. "I was just-"

"I know. And I saw what happened." Amelia's gaze was cold and contemptuous as she fixed it on the trembing Patricker, her voice low and hard. "You are under arrest, spacer. May the fates show you mercy, because you'll get none from me. Major Tansley?"

"Ma'am?"

"Take this man into custody pending trial and sentencing." Amelia turned on her heel, as if banishing Patricker from her sight. "At once."

"Please, Admiral...I don't-" Patricker began to stammer. Amelia cut him off with a snarl, her eyes flashing as she turned them back on him with redoubled fury.

"Be silent, damn you! You will speak when you are spoken to! Throw him in the brig, Major. And if he resists, you have my permission to shoot him where he stands."

"Yes, ma'am." Tansley nodded to Ko. "You heard the Admiral, Sarn't-Major. Take the prisoner into custody."

"Sir." Ko stepped forward and drew her sidearm. "Marines, forward! Let's go, spacer. Keep your hands where I can see them."

The crowd watched, still silent, as the unfortunate Patricker was led off, a marine's bayonet at his back. Amelia turned to them and raised her voice.

"You three, get Mr Walton to the surgeon at once! The rest of you, back to your stations! Now!"

The crew broke off, mutterings already starting as they made their way back to their tables while the three men picked out came forward to pick up Walton's recumbent form. Amelia waited for the bloodied man to be carried off before she glanced at Aurora, a flicker of concern finally breaking through the icy, authoritarian air she had been wearing like a suit of armour.

"Lieutenant?"

"I'm all right, ma'am," said Aurora. "Surprised more than hurt." She touched her lip gingerly and saw the blood on her fingertips when she took them away.

"Good. But report to Dr Gray anyway and get that seen to once she's finished with Mr Walton." Amelia nodded to her.

"Yes, ma'am." Aurora saluted. "And...ma'am?"

"Hmm?"

"Patricker, ma'am...what's going to happen with him?"

"He can spend tonight in the brig," said Amelia curtly. "He'll be tried tomorrow morning. And I imagine he'll be hanged by the afternoon watch."

"Please, ma'am," Aurora tried. "I'm not sure that's-"

"That's the law." Amelia said sharply. "And you're dismissed, lieutenant."

Aurora stood aside as Amelia stalked past her. She could taste blood in her mouth and there was a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that overwhelmed even the growing throb of the pain in her lip.

"Yes, ma'am," she whispered.

* * *

 _Ko could see the enemy clearly now. The mass of grey-clad infantry was moving in dispersed formation through the rain, the thunder of falling shells drowning out their footsteps through the mud. Their weapons were ready in their hands, but they were not raising them. Procyon officers led the way, barking encouragement to their troops as they neared the low, broken stone wall where the thin red line of Imperial troops waited to receive them._

" _Steady!" Somewhere to Ko's left, along the line, Brigadier Dreyfus was gripping his sword tightly._

 _Ko took aim at a large Procyon soldier who was moving with his rifle in one hand and a grenade in the other and waited, trying to concentrate on her breathing. She glanced to her left and saw that Gray had taken shelter in a foxhole while she waited for the maiming and dying to begin._

" _Be careful, doc," she whispered._

" _Steady!"_

 _By now it seemed that the Procyons had seen the Imperials behind their low wall, but they had spotted them too late. Their confident steps faltered somewhat and the barks of their officers became more urgent as they tried to close their ranks and keep pressing forward to make use of their sheer momentum to force the defenders out into the open or back into the barrage._

" _Fire!"_

 _The command was repeated by officers and NCOs all along the Imperial line. A volley of stinging blue fire struck the Procyon advance, felling a score or more instantly. Ko saw her own target fall, but did not allow herself a thrill of satisfaction before she picked out a second as he knelt to return fire. A second volley from the Imperials raked across the enemy vanguard before they began shooting back. A few ragged red pulses flickered back at them, kicking up bubbles of mud and steam where they hit the soaked ground or splashing off the wet stone of the wall._

" _Ko!" Lieutenant Zavier shouted. "Get back to the doc! Go! Keep her safe!"_

" _Aye, sir!" Ko fired once more and scrambled back towards Gray's foxhole. Procyon shots, attracted by her movement, followed her. She heard the marines redouble their fire to cover her. The two forces were only yards apart now, neither able to withdraw. Something had to give._

" _Bayonets!" Dreyfus called. "Charge!"_

 _The order had scarcely been given before the Procyon commander gave the same one. The Imperial troops rose out of cover, yelling, and plunged forward, firing from the hip. The Procyons rose to meet them, their own warcries drowning out even the artillery fire. Ko tried to lend her fire but couldn't find a clear target. Red-coated Imperials met grey-coated Procyons in a killing field a hundred metres long but only a few metres deep. Ko saw Sergeant Jerram bayonet a Procyon in the chest. She saw a marine go down clutching at his face when a Procyon shot him at point blank range just before he could do the same. Dreyfus was cutting about him with his sword. Zavier ran a Procyon through with his cutlass and tried to wrench the blade free from the corpse. It came too slowly, and a second Procyon shot him twice before impaling him up to the muzzle on its bayonet._

" _Doc!" Ko turned to Gray. The surgeon was tying off a bandage around the stump of a wounded soldier's leg. The man's face was pale and his hands shook as his fingers wrapped themselves around his laslock. Gray pointed him towards the enemy before she joined Ko._

" _You all right, doc?" Ko shouted above the din of battle._

 _Gray nodded briskly and pointed to another soldier who was lying on the ground a short distance away, cradling a gunshot wound. Ko understood and led the way from the foxhole towards him, snapping off opportunistic shots as she moved. Gray knelt beside the casualty and set to work as Ko tried to cover them. The scene around them was still one of chaos, bodies moving, wrestling, falling, tumbling. Shouts and screams mingled with the crackle of laslock fire and the clash of steel. A Procyon, seeing Gray's white coat, roared and took aim at her. Ko fired first and the Procyon's bellow turned into a scream as the shot hit his wrist and severed it. Ko fired twice more to silence him forever and rose to meet a second enemy who was charging in with a bayonet, smashing him so hard across the head with the brass-shod stock of her rifle that both his feet left the ground and he fell backwards into the mud._

" _Doc!" Ko looked around frantically. The Imperial troops were still fighting hard, but there seemed to be a lot more Procyons than she remembered. A second wave of the assault had caught up with the first, plunging into the melee to turn the tide._

" _Fall back!" Dreyfus shouted. "Fall back to the trenches!"_

 _Gray looked up at Ko. She was still working on the wounded man. Ko snarled and turned to the marines._

" _Haybridge! Lend a hand here, will you?"_

 _The casualty was hurriedly picked up. Ko fired into the mass of Procyons bearing down on the retreating defenders, taking up a place in an improvised rearguard. The shelling appeared to have lifted somewhat as they fell back, the Procyons snapping at their heels. The enemy pursued them with a certain degree of caution, initially taking up position on the other side of the low wall from where the Imperials had first ambushed them and laying down harassing fire. A shot sizzled past Ko's shoulder and she fired back, emptying her rifle's powerpack but forcing her assailant to keep his head down for a few crucial moments. She turned and sprinted the last few yards to the shallow trench they had occupied and then abandoned under the barrage. The shellfire had turned the defensive position, never really more than a ditch, into a patchwork of gullies and craters, some of which were already partly filled with water. The heavy rain had not relented and a hundred rivulets were flowing from the ruined farm complex into the fields, where they pooled in the remnants of the trench line. Ko splashed into position, reloading her weapon with hands shaking either from adrenaline or terror. Jerram was calling to the surviving marines, encouraging them into a semblance of a firing line. Ko couldn't see Gray any more, but assumed that she was somewhere safe with her patient. There was a roar as the Procyons resumed their headlong assault, bursting out of cover and charging the broken Imperial line en masse. Blue fire met them, but only a handful were struck down before they reached the trench._

" _Stand fast! Stand fast and fight!"_

 _A few Procyon grenades were thrown, but did less damage than could be expected as they sank into the sodden ground before exploding and the mud absorbed much of their blast. Then the wave broke over the defenders once again. Grey-clad shock troops bulled their way into the trench, smashing aside the scattered bayonets that were raised to meet them, shouting and shooting. The fighting was every bit as fierce as the first hand-to-hand clash, but now the savagery was packed into the muddy confines of a blasted trench. Ko was forced back against the wall of the trench, warding off her attacker with her rifle. She lashed out with a foot, connecting with the Procyon's gut. He doubled over briefly, long enough for Ko to regain her bearings. She saw Gray emerge from a ditch behind her to quickly survey the scene. Hardly daring to breathe a sigh of relief, Ko scrambled to join her._

" _I think we're up against it here, doc!" she shouted._

 _Gray nodded. She had obtained a laslock pistol from one of the casualties she had treated and had it stowed in her coat pocket. Ko felt better for knowing that she was armed. She raised her own rifle and fired it at a group of Procyons which had just arrived at the edge of the trench, forcing them to scatter._

 _The order to fall back was already being passed frantically along the Imperial line, which was wavering under the relentless pressure of the Procyon attack. Ko gritted her teeth and reloaded her rifle._

" _You'd better get going, doc," she said. "I'll cover your back."_

 _Gray gave her a brief look of genuine concern, but then she nodded. She touched a hand to Ko's shoulder before she turned to go, waiting to choose her moment carefully to avoid drawing fire. Ko vaulted out of the ditch and back into the trench, opening fire as she dived. The Imperial troops were breaking off combat and running, Procyons often close behind. Ko did her best to cover them, until a shadow fell over Ko as a Procyon appeared at the lip of the trench. Too close to take aim, she slashed at him with her bayonet, feeling the blade break off and lodge in his knee. He bellowed in pain and dropped out of sight._

 _Breathing hard, Ko looked around and saw a Procyon officer hack down two Imperial soldiers before catching sight of Gray. His hand went to a pistol on his belt, but Ko hissed a warning and leapt towards him. The officer spotted her a fraction of a second too late and Ko was able to knock the pistol from his hand and bring her rifle barrel up to block the swing of his sword. He backed off a step before attacking again in a flurry of strokes. Ko backed up desperately, trying to dodge what she couldn't parry. She felt her hat swept from her head by a near-miss and drove herself forward from a crouch, tackling the officer around the midriff. They splashed into the mud together and rolled along the trench punching, clawing and kicking, the fight too frantic now to bother with defence. Ko rose up above him, her fist drawn back to strike, but he grabbed a handful of mud and flung it up into her face. She fell back, hands raised and eyes closed instinctively to protect herself. When she opened them again, she had just enough time to register the officer's presence in front of her before he attacked again. He had managed to collect his sword and Ko jerked away at the last possible instant, turning her head. There was an explosion of white-hot pain down the left side of her face as the curved blade sliced through fur and flesh._

 _Ko screamed and clutched at her cheek, feeling the flow of blood through her fingers. She staggered back as the officer advanced on her again, sword raised and a wicked grin of triumph on his ugly features. Ko's left eye was either missing or filled with her own blood. Her ears might as well have been too for all the use they were. She could no longer tell if she was alone in the trench, whether her comrades were still alive or not. The whole of her attention was focused on the Procyon in front of her. She felt the wall of the trench at her back and the officer snarled victoriously and raised the sword to strike. In an act of pure desperation, Ko launched herself at him again._ _The sword came down and the pommel struck the back of her shoulder, but the blow seemed to cause no pain and Ko only distantly acknowledged it. She grabbed the officer's collar and drove her forehead into his nose, which broke with an audible snap. He reeled backwards, turning, tripping over a corpse and falling into a shallow puddle of muddy water which had accumulated in the bottom of the trench. He scrambled around for a moment, trying to stand, but Ko pinned him down and flung punches into his face until her knuckles bled and his head lolled back. She pushed his body over onto its front and knelt hard on his shoulders, her hands at the back of his head, holding his face underwater in the puddle. Ko could hear her own heartbeat, the rasp of her own breathing. She saw the brown water turn red as the blood from her face dripped into it. She could even see the individual drops falling, the brief, intricate patterns they formed when they hit the water. But she was only vaguely aware of the Procyon's panicked struggles, the thrashing body beneath her, the hands clawing at the muddy bottom of the trench._

 _It took her a moment to realise that it had ended and the Procyon lay still. Panting, she collapsed against the side of the trench next to his corpse. She tried to focus on her surroundings, but found it impossible. The sound of blood in her ears was mounting, a white noise that blotted out even the din of battle. Her vision, already partly obscured, seemed to be fading..._

Ko awoke, breathing hard. It wasn't even a surprise any longer. The memories were coming back every time she tried to sleep. The memory of how she'd acquired her scar was as permanently a part of her as the scar itself, but she seldom thought about it. She much preferred to think about her next memory, when she had woken to find Gray waiting attentively by her side as she regained consciousness – but whatever force was dredging through the parts of her memories that even she never wanted to think about seemed to have other ideas.

"Damn all this," she muttered, sitting up and willing her breathing and heart rate to return to normal. She lit a lantern and sat in the pool of light for a moment, wondering what she should do. Of course, there was only one other person on board she could turn to for counsel, and she resolved to go and see her. She swung her legs out of bed and stood, gathering up and donning her uniform before she picked up the lantern and made her way through the ship's darkened passageways to the sick bay.

"Doc?"

The triage room was empty as she'd known it would be at this hour, the reception desk unattended. Stepping through into the ward, Ko was expecting to see a light on in Gray's adjoining office, but there was only darkness. Ko's face fell – Gray had obviously turned in. Glancing at the clock on the wall, she reflected that it was relatively early for the surgeon to have called it a day, but it was still late by anyone else's standards. Sighing, she prepared to leave when a small noise caught her attention and made her turn back.

"Hello?"

The sound had come from Gray's office. It was inconceivable that anyone else would be in there, but at the same time it was strange for Gray not to have a light on. Ko advanced towards the door slowly and knocked.

"Ma'am? Is that you?"

There was a shifting sound from inside, as if someone was moving slightly. Ko pushed the door open and looked inside.

"Do-"

She froze. Gray was backed into the far corner, her shoulders hunched as if she was cowering away from an assailant and her eyes wide with terror. A lantern lay on the floor by the desk, the glass of the bulb shattered. Ko checked around her quickly for any sign of an attack, but there was nothing. There was only one explanation – whatever had been affecting Ko and torturing her dreams had got hold of Gray as well. She was almost rigid and she made no acknowledgement of Ko's arrival.

"Are...are you all right, ma'am?" Ko stepped inside and closed the office door behind her. Gray didn't respond, though she twitched visibly at the click of the latch. Up close and in the light, Ko saw that she was shivering almost as if she was cold.

"Ma'am?"

Gray stared, but not at anything Ko could see. Her eyes were wide and glassy with terror and her face a mask of tension. Ko put her lantern down on the desk and carefully brushed the broken glass of the other one out of the way with her foot.

"It's all right, doc. It's Ko. Can...can you hear me?"

Ko looked at Gray with genuine fear. The middle-distance stare in the doctor's dark eyes and the shaking in her body reminded Ko of nothing so much as the dreaded "shell shock" that sometimes afflicted a person who had gone through things they should never have had to endure. Ko had seen it take more than one comrade in the past, but it was inconceivable that Gray – unflappable, impervious, indefatigable Gray – should be so affected. The Macropodian seemed like a wild animal trapped in a corner and Ko wished that she had the words to draw her out again. But words had never been her strongest point and she wasn't sure if there even were any words strong enough to reach Gray in whatever dark corner her mind currently occupied, or that were strong enough to convey the depth of her concern.

"Ma'am, I..." She swallowed. "Can...can you say something...anything?"

Gray blinked, but Ko didn't know whether that had been a reaction or just a random reflex. The surgeon's hands twitched once or twice.

"I...I'm right here, ma'am...you're safe." Ko put a hand on Gray's shoulder, watching her face closely, hoping desperately to see some flicker of recognition. "I've got you..."

Gray's hands twitched again. Ko closed her own hand around one of them, trying to thread her fingers through Gray's.

"Come back to me, ma'am..." she whispered. "Please..."

She surprised herself with the way her voice caught with emotion, but she couldn't even be sure that Gray could hear her. It would take some decisive action to break through to her. Only one thing came to mind. Ko rejected the notion at first, but found herself unable to think of anything better. Even so, it would take all of her courage, and she paused a moment to gather it.

"I really hope this works," Ko said softly. "And that you can forgive me if it doesn't."

She glanced around to confirm that they were alone, then stepped forward and kissed Gray on the lips. For one horrible moment she thought she might have made a catastrophic mistake as the doctor froze in her arms and her eyes opened even wider – but then Gray was returning her impulsive gesture in kind, her own hands clasping the back of Ko's red coat as if it would prevent her from drowning and her troubled green eyes drifted closed. Trying not to sigh with relief, Ko held her close until shortness of breath forced her to break off and move away slightly, realising as she did so just how fast her heart was suddenly beating. Her ears detected just the faintest sigh from Gray, whose eyes reopened and focused on her. To Ko's relief, they were as clear and sharp as she always remembered them.

"Ma'am?" Ko's voice was just a whisper as they stood almost nose to nose, both breathing hard.

Gray reached shakily for her notebook and pencil. THANK YOU.

Ko breathed out gratefully.

"I'm just glad you didn't mind," she said. "I know it's been a while since the last time that we..."

YES. Gray agreed. DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.

It occurred to Ko as she nodded that there were two ways to interpret that instruction.

"No, ma'am." It seemed the safest response. "Can I ask...what were you thinking of?"

Gray hesitated before writing her reply. THE PAST.

"Oh." Ko sensed the tension increasing. "Can I ask what?"

FAMILY. The doctor grimaced and looked away. BUT I FEEL GUILTY COMPLAINING ABOUT MY UPBRINGING TO YOU.

"Why? I always thought we've got quite a lot in common. You know, aside from you being the daughter of a planetary governor and me being the daughter of an unemployed shipyard worker," Ko tried to grin at the comparison between Gray's aristocratic background and her own origins. "I mean, both our fathers were complete bastards, right?"

YES, wrote Gray. BUT MINE ONLY GROSSLY FAILED TO COME TO TERMS WITH MY CONDITION WHILE YOURS-

She stopped and shook her head as she began a new sentence. AT LEAST MINE NEVER TOUCHED ME. AND HE NEVER DRANK.

There was a long, complex pause before Ko replied.

"I know," she said softly. "But...in a way I think you had it worse. It's true that my dad hit the bottle...amongst other things...but if he tried to hurt me now, I could kill him. Even with my back the way it is, I could kill him. But yours, ma'am...just because he didn't leave you physical scars doesn't mean...look, the point is, don't feel bad just because I didn't have it easy either."

Gray shook her head again to end the conversation and pushed herself away from the bench. Ko watched her walk to the other side of the sick bay and ran her hand through her hair wearily.

"What the hell is going on, doc?" she said. "First I dream of Badlanding, now you're remembering your family's demons. It's like we're coming apart at the seams. And it's not just you and me being affected like this. It's the whole damn crew. Even the Admiral, though she's doing well to hide it."

The doctor looked up, frowning. THE DREAMS CAME BACK?

"Yeah." Ko nodded and glanced away guiltily. "They have been. And tonight, too...the worst yet..."

I TOLD YOU TO TELL ME IF THEY RECURRED. Gray frowned at her severely.

"I know, ma'am. I...I should have told you sooner." Ko sighed. "I didn't want to worry you. They're just dreams."

Gray shook her head furiously. NO. SOMETHING IS CAUSING THEM. CAUSING ALL OF THIS.

"Such as?"

Gray's shoulders slumped for a moment before she replied.

I DON'T KNOW. IT MUST BE ENVIRONMENTAL.

"Environmental to what, though? That salvor who attacked you in here...he'd only been aboard for five minutes and Sorensen said he'd already gone crazy on the _Black Knight_. Whatever's causing this, it's nothing to do with the _Lyonesse_."

Gray shook her head. NO.

"But it's not the _Black Knight_ either," said Ko. "Or else how could it be affecting us?"

Gray nodded. I THINK IT'S THE CORE.

"The dead star? But how?"

I DON'T KNOW. Having to repeat that seemed to irritate Gray. BUT PROXIMITY TO IT IS THE ONE THING THAT THE LYONESSE AND THE BLACK KNIGHT HAVE IN COMMON.

"You could ask Doctor Doppler, ma'am," said Ko. "Stars are what he does, after all. Maybe he's got some ideas. And Lieutenant Mayflower's been studying the core as well."

MAYBE. Gray frowned thoughtfully. I'LL TAKE IT UP WITH THEM. BUT I NEED TO DO SOME FURTHER READING FIRST.

"Dr Doppler usually goes over to the _Black Knight_ first thing, ma'am. You'll have to catch him early."

YES. Gray nodded and glanced at the clock.

Ko did as well and saw the time. "Well...I suppose I'd better get back to bed so you can get some sleep as well."

Gray looked at her with concern. WILL YOU BE ALL RIGHT?

"Sure." Ko hoped she sounded like she meant it. "And...you, doc? I...can stay if you'd like..."

Gray seemed to consider the offer for a long moment, during which Ko hardly dared to breathe. But then the surgeon shook her head.

NO. BUT THANK YOU.

"Any time, ma'am." Ko smiled briefly. "Good night."

AND TO YOU.

Ko went to leave. Gray stepped forward and caught her sleeve, and she turned back curiously.

"Ma'am?"

She'd been ready for another question, or even an order. She hadn't been ready for the kiss. Gray's lips closed on hers softly, almost questioningly, but even when Ko responded with affirmation the surgeon held back and drew away, breaking the contact lingeringly. There was an unreadable look in her dark green eyes but, as she adjusted the set of the spectacles on her long nose, something subtle had changed in her expression to bring it as close as she usually came to smiling. Ko smiled back – even in the gathering darkness, it seemed that there could still be glimmers of light.

She hoped it would be enough.


	7. Chapter 7

Surgeon-Commander Gray sat at her desk in a small pool of lamplight, reading. The shelves of her office had been ransacked for research material and there was already a pile of texts by her feet. She flicked through the volume in front of her and set it aside with an huff of annoyance. She was certain beyond all doubt that the dead star was to blame for the mental maladies afflicting the crew but so far none of her library had shed any light on the mechanism. Her anatomy texts were useless, and there was no known disease that could explain it. She sat back in her chair, took off her spectacles and rubbed her tired eyes. Reading by the yellow glow of the small lamp on her desk wasn't helping, she knew, but she also knew the urgency of uncovering the truth and couldn't let herself relent in her search.

 _All things can be explained_ , she mentally reminded herself. _Even this_.

Sighing, she opened a desk drawer and brought out a small silver box, which she opened and studied cautiously. It contained pills of a dried herb formally known as _navitas spencerin_ and which was known to shift workers across the Empire as a useful stimulant. It was not, technically, sanctioned for Fleet medical personnel and Gray knew from experience that its use always came at a price once the effects wore off, but there had been times – too many – when it had been the only way of staving off collapse. She considered its use now, but decided against it. As she put the box back into the desk, she felt it clink against something and reached in to recover it. Her hand withdrew holding a rounded case of polished walnut, shaped to fit comfortably into the palm of a hand. Her breath caught at the sight of it and for a moment she hesitated as if wondering whether to put it back. Eventually, though, she set it atop her desk and touched a small brass clasp to open it. It flipped open, revealing the silver dial of a small magnetic compass. The interior of the lid bore a finely-engraved legend:

 _To Eleanor,_

 _A little sister who always knew her way._

 _-Victor Gray_

Memories flooded back unbidden. Her older brother Victor had joined the Navy and gone to space before she'd left home. He'd been the only member of the family to comprehend her muteness when she'd been growing up and the compass had been a gift from him before he'd shipped out for the Academy. Gray had followed in his footsteps but hadn't even graduated when word came that he had been lost along with his ship...

 _It feels like yesterday..._

She shook herself.

 _But when did I get this sentimental? I can't afford it. Not now. There's work to be done. People are counting on you._

The compass sat in the light, shining brightly. She stared at it, fighting down the memories that suddenly crowded her tired brain and clamoured for her attention.

And then the needle moved.

Gray froze, watching it intently, at first not trusting the evidence of her eyes. _Did that just..._

It did it again. She sat forward and bent over it, snatching up her spectacles and donning them to help her focus. There was no doubt about it – the magnetically-sensitive needle was shaking as if the compass was being shaken. But the ship was still dead in space, without even the usual distant vibration of the engines to disturb the peace.

 _Could it be..?_

She stood up and stared around her office. A hurried search revealed no source of any possible interference. Which meant only one thing could be affecting it.

 _Is it really that simple?_

Gray turned slowly and looked at her bookcase. Half a shelf was filled with thin, pink-bound volumes. She stepped towards it, and began searching through them, her mind once again as focused and sharp as one of her scalpels...

* * *

Doppler awoke to an insistent knocking on his cabin door. Its intensity suggested that the visitor had been knocking for some time now, and was just about ready to stop and instead use more drastic measures to gain entrance.

"Y-yes! I'm here! Just a moment, please!" He half-rolled, half-stood out of bed and began grabbing around him for his clothes. Dressing hurriedly, he noted the colour of the dawn light coming through the scuttle and wondered what could possibly be so important. And urgent – another series of loud raps on his door left him in no doubt that his visitor was on a mission.

"Coming! Coming!" He buttoned up his shirt and opened the door. He'd been expecting the familiar figure of Amelia or Aurora, but it was Dr Gray was now standing in front of him. Even though she was one of Amelia's oldest and most trusted comrades, not to mention the medic who had diagnosed Amelia's pregnancy and delivered their children, Doppler had never felt entirely at ease in her stern, silent presence.

"Dr Gray. Hello. I mean, good morning." He realised that he'd been staring for a fraction of a second too long and tried to gather himself in a more confidently professional manner. "What can I do for you?"

Gray looked him up and down critically and produced a slip of paper from a bundle she was carrying under one arm. It bore the words: I NEED TO SPEAK WITH YOU.

"Oh?" Doppler tried unsuccessfully to hide his surprise. "Well, please come in."

He stepped back, taking a moment to glance around the room and make sure that there was nothing embarrassing on open display. Gray followed him, closing the door behind her. The cabin was small to begin with and its limited space had been occupied already by the small writing desk that had been installed for Doppler's use, not to mention his own possessions. With notes and records now piled up on every horizontal surface, the space was further reduced even before the addition of any occupants. Doppler squeezed his way behind the desk and looked up at Gray, whose anatomy placed her at an additional disadvantage. The Macropodian tucked her long, heavy tail around her feet primly as she began writing on her notebook.

YOU'VE BEEN STUDYING THE STELLAR CORE?

Doppler nodded. "Yes, though the business with the _Black Knight_ has meant that I haven't been able to do as much as I'd have liked to recently. Lieutenant Mayflower has done most of the work on the orphan core. If you want to know about that, you should really speak to her."

I NEED AN ASTROPHYSICIST, NOT A NAVIGATOR. Gray shook her head. HAS SHE BEEN MONITORING THE AMBIENT MAGNETICS?

"I...well, yes, of course. The core's magnetic field is what's holding the solar wind back from reaching us." Doppler frowned in puzzlement. "The whole point of the observations is to determine when the field might shift and let us escape. Why do you ask?"

MAY I SEE THE RESULTS?

"The data's all in the chartroom." Doppler nodded "But really, Commander, what-"

A thin publication bound between pink covers landed on the desk in front of him. Doppler adjusted the set of his spectacles and picked it up.

" _The Annals of Fleet Medicine,_ " he read aloud, noting the Royal Navy crest emblazoned on the front. "I'm sorry, I still don't-"

Snorting in irritation, Gray flicked a bookmark stuck in the journal's pages. Doppler opened it to the section indicated and read the top of the first page of the flagged article.

" _On the Influence of Magnetic Fields upon Brain Function, Perception and Cognition by Surgeon-Captain Moraitis Brand_ ," he said. "Well, I'm glad to see that medical journals are much like physics ones in terms of the editors' fascination with convoluted and grammatically-questionable titles..."

His brain, still sluggish from sleep, finally caught up with him. "Wait...you mean you think that the core is somehow causing all the strange behaviour recently?"

Gray nodded. YOU KNOW WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?

"I've heard of...some difficulties." Doppler said cautiously, careful not to hint at Amelia's disclosure to him the previous day. "Memories coming back to remind people of things in their past. Not usually good ones. And then there was poor Mr Falk..."

Gray nodded again, and for a moment Doppler thought he saw a shadow pass over her face. It suddenly struck him how tired she looked – not entirely unlike Amelia's fatigued state.

"And...you've experienced these symptoms too?"

The surgeon frowned, but gave a brief, tight little nod. AND YOU?

"Nothing so traumatic, thankfully," said Doppler. "But now that you mention it...there hasn't been a day since we got here that I haven't had a headache."

Gray looked up with interest. MY STAFF HAVE RECORDED A RISE IN SUCH COMPLAINTS.

"Ah? I must admit I haven't gone to sick bay about it yet because of everything else that's been going on," said Doppler. "Do you know anything about the disciplinary issues that have been happening?"

I DEALT WITH THE AFTERMATH OF ONE LAST NIGHT, Gray confirmed.

"Oh, yes. The brawl on the mess deck." Doppler nodded and flipped through the pages of the bookmarked article. They had clearly been read intensively, with sections underlined and annotated in the margins in Gray's spidery handwriting. "Could I ask for a summary of this article, please? I'm afraid I was never much good at biology in school."

THERE IS A THEORY THAT CERTAIN TYPES OF MAGNETIC FIELD CAN AFFECT THE FUNCTIONING OF THE BRAIN, Gray said. THE FIELD INTERFERES WITH THE ELECTRICAL IMPULSES IN THE SYNAPSES.

"'Observed effects include suspected hallucinations, paranoia and altered perceptions including a belief in the presence of non-physical entities,'" Doppler read aloud. "Does that mean what I think it means? That it can make you...see things? Ghosts?" He immediately thought of Amelia's confession.

YES. Gray nodded. HAVE THE CORE'S MAGNETIC FIELD READINGS CHANGED?

"Hour by hour. They're in constant flux." Doppler frowned. "We'd need to check the data for any specific details, though."

CAN I COUNT ON YOUR ASSISTANCE?

Doppler nodded. He hadn't forgotten the _Black Knight_ , of course, but as a physicist he had an instinctive affinity for an elegant solution to a problem, and Gray's theory appealed to him. "Naturally. I know the Admiral was worried about the crew's disturbances and she'd be glad to hear a plausible explanation."

IT'S THE ONLY EXPLANATION, Gray emphasised. THE CORE IS THE ONLY COMMON FACTOR BETWEEN THE RESCUED SALVAGE CREW AND OURS.

"Maybe it also explains the mutiny on the salvage ship...and even perhaps why the Forefathers abandoned the _Black Knight._ "

PRECISELY. Gray affirmed.

"Are you sure about this, though?"

For a moment, the astrophysicist and the surgeon locked eyes. Then the latter looked away and shook her head.

NO. IT'S JUST A THEORY.

"But a compelling one," said Doppler. "And certainly more plausible than...than curses or any other superstitions."

Gray nodded. CAN WE EXAMINE THE DATA FROM THE CORE OBSERVATIONS?

"I think we should," said Doppler. "Lieutenant Mayflower wouldn't mind. And besides, if you're going to take this to the Admiral, I think it would be better coming from the two of us..."

* * *

Amelia draped her blue coat around the back of her chair and sat down with a deep sigh, running her hand through her hair and trying to shake her auburn tresses into a more respectable shape. It had been another difficult night, and the dismal beverage that Simons had greeted her with that morning had not improved her mood. All efforts to revive the last handful of coffee beans had failed and the enterprising galley had made do with a substitute known to the lower deck as 'calydonian coffee' and which consisted of burnt breadcrumbs floating in hot water sweetened with condensed milk in a well-intentioned attempt to disguise the taste. She'd taken one sip and put the mug aside, deciding to resort to her dwindling stock of tea leaves instead, even though what little was left had been shaken down to the constituency of fine dust. Still, she had breakfast with her husband to look forward to, and she busied herself with reading the overnight reporting until the expected knock on the door came.

"Enter!" she called, standing up.

To her surprise, the door opened to admit not Doppler but Aurora, who was visibly nervous. "Er, good morning, ma'am."

"And to you, Ms Mayflower." Amelia nodded. "I wasn't aware that you were joining us for breakfast today."

"I hadn't planned to, ma'am, but I'd be grateful for a moment of your time." Aurora's eyes flickered across the table, taking in the two places that had been set for Amelia and Doppler. "I-I'm sorry for the intrusion."

"No intrusion," said Amelia, resuming her seat. "It seems that Delbert is delayed this morning. In the meantime, what is it that you need?"

Aurora took a deep breath. "Permission to speak freely, ma'am?"

"Granted," said Amelia.

"It's...about Patricker, ma'am."

Amelia cocked her head. "Oh, yes?"

The younger felinid hesitated, wringing her hands as she gathered her courage. There had been a note in Amelia's tone that was as clear a warning sign as a lighthouse for those approaching a rocky shore. Saying what she wanted to say would take her perilously close to insubordination, or an even worse crime. But she couldn't back down now.

"You shouldn't hang him, ma'am," she said. "He doesn't deserve it."

"I thought you'd say that." Amelia pulled a piece of paper towards herself. "I have here Dr Gray's report on Mr Walton's condition. You'll be pleased to know that she expects him to recover. But aside from multiple contusions and abrasions, his jaw was broken with the loss of two teeth, what's left of his nose was practically pushed into his brain and his right zygomatic bone is so badly fractured that she says it's a miracle he kept the use of that eyeball. And that's not to mention what Patricker did to _you_."

Aurora flinched at the gruesome list of injuries. "Y...yes, ma'am. But I'm all right, really. I didn't even need stitches."

"That's hardly the point, _lieutenant_ ," Amelia accentuated her rank. "It's not just that you're my aide. You're an officer of the fleet. You hold a commission signed and sealed by the hand of the Queen herself. The Articles of War, unlike the Standing Orders, are blessedly plain on most of their points and on the subject of assault on an officer they are as clear as day."

"I know, ma'am, but..." Aurora bit her lip nervously and wished she hadn't. "Patricker wasn't himself. You must have heard the testimony of the crew."

"I have it here." Amelia picked up another document. "Patricker was off duty and taking a meal. His behaviour was noted as...preoccupied. When Walton tried to speak with him, he attacked him."

"Precisely, ma'am. And Patricker has a clean record. No demerits at all. I confirmed it with his divisional officer and his supervising gun captain."

Amelia looked up at her, a frown of disapproval on her face. "It's not up to you to investigate this incident, Ms Mayflower."

"I...I know, ma'am. I'm sorry if I overstepped any boundaries, but..." Aurora waved a hand helplessly. "I didn't want to just hold my tongue until the trial and then give the testimony that'll get Patricker hanged."

"I don't need your testimony to do that," said Amelia pointedly, indicating the paper in her hand. "Half the mess deck saw him do it. And that's another thing – you want to set an example to the rest of the crew that they can harm an officer and get away with it, so long as the officer _feels sorry_ for them?"

"No, ma'am," said Aurora promptly. "Of course not. But surely we don't need to be so hasty to deal out judgement when we may not yet know all the facts-"

"Do you think I _want_ to hang him?" Amelia snapped suddenly. "Of course I don't! This little sojourn has already cost us one spacer's life! I assure you that I don't enjoy having to make it two! But the law is the law. I swore an oath to uphold the Articles of War when I first put on this uniform – as did you, lieutenant."

"I know, ma'am, but..." Aurora looked miserable. "Surely...in the circumstances, perhaps some leeway..."

"The law was _written_ for the hard times," said Amelia. "In the easy times, you don't _need_ it. It's precisely when discipline starts to fray that enforcement becomes critical."

"But what if there _is_ more to this?" Aurora insisted. "Patricker wasn't the first person to suddenly attack someone on this ship. Remember Falk? How he suddenly attacked Dr Gray and her staff? What if...what if it was the same as with Patricker?"

Amelia drummed her fingers on her desk. "Just how do you mean?"

Aurora shrugged. "I don't know, ma'am. But the two cases are so similar...what if there's something that links them? If Patricker was sent over the edge by whatever sent Falk mad? Would you reconsider his sentencing then? After all, if he wasn't in control of his own actions..."

Amelia stood up and turned to stare out the stern windows, trying to keep her eyes focused on the distance and not on her own distorted reflections in the glass. Goodness knows, she was in no position to punish someone who might have lost their mind...

"Yes," she said eventually. "I believe that could be justified. But the evidence would have to be strong. The mere similarity of the cases isn't enough."

Aurora smiled with relief. "Thank you, ma'am."

Amelia looked back at her, a small smile on her own face at her flag-lieutenant's un-naval humanitarian instincts. "Though I note that no such evidence exists."

"With your permission, ma'am, I'd like to confer with Dr Doppler and Dr Gray on this," said Aurora. "I think that a collaboration might produce some theories, and wouldn't necessarily detract from their other tasks-"

There was a sharp knocking on the cabin door, and the sentry poked his head around it, touching the brim of his hat respectfully.

"Begging your pardon, ma'am, but the ship's surgeon wants to see you urgently with Dr Doppler."

"How fortuitous." Amelia grinned wryly. "Thank you, private. Let them in."

The sentry saluted again and stepped back out of view, letting the two doctors past him into the cabin. Both were carrying stacks of papers and Amelia saw the early indicators of an impending lecture, though her curiosity was aroused by the sight of her husband and her surgeon apparently working together – though there was no doubt that between them they possessed the two finest minds on board, their wildly differing specialities made cooperation seem unlikely. She stepped forward to greet them, acknowledging Gray's silent nod and smiling warmly at Doppler.

"Good morning, doctor. And good morning, doctor. To what do I owe this?"

Doppler visibly hesitated and glanced at Gray, who rolled her eyes and elbowed him forwards. He coughed awkwardly to clear his throat before speaking.

"Firstly, I apologise for my lateness. I know I missed our usual breakfast time together and I'm sorry about that, but I was diverted by an urgent scientific enquiry."

"I surmised that for myself, yes," Amelia grinned. "And no apology is necessary. Whatever it was, it must have been important to occupy both of you."

Doppler nodded eagerly. "Thank you – and yes, it's vitally important. We've...we think...made a discovery."

"Do go on." Amelia watched him with interest.

"We know what's going on," he said. "Er. We think. With the crew and everything. All the odd behaviour and the...other experiences."

"You do?" Aurora blinked in surprise.

"Yes, I think you'd better stay for this discussion, navigator," said Amelia. "Very well, doctor. Lay it out for me. And please bear in mind that I'm neither an astrophysicist nor a surgeon so you may have to use what you consider small words."

Doppler smiled at her joke as he unloaded his papers onto the table and began spreading them out. As he worked, Gray stepped forward and began her explanation.

THE CREW HAS EXHIBITED SIGNS OF A DISTURBED MENTAL STATE, INCLUDING DELUSIONS OF PARANOIA, DISRUPTED SLEEP, RECURRENT TRAUMATIC MEMORIES, HALLUCINATIONS, DEPRESSION AND CHRONIC HEADACHES, she observed. FALK AND PATRICKER ARE MERELY THE MOST EXTREME CASES TO MANIFEST BEHAVIOURALLY.

Amelia nodded. "I'm aware of the reports. And the symptoms. And you think you know what's causing it?"

"Yes," said Doppler. "Whatever it was, it couldn't be specific to any one ship. Not the salvage ship, not the _Black Knight_ and not the _Lyonesse_. Which means, by process of elimination, that the source of these problems is the orphan core."

"The _star_ is sending people around the bend?" Amelia raised an eyebrow.

"Not the star," Doppler shook his head. "But the star's magnetism. The magnetic fields the core is generating might not just be holding back the solar wind. They might be causing all these problems with the crew. It turns out that those rumours of a 'curse' weren't so far removed from the truth as I first thought. There really _is_ something that causes bad things to happen here."

THERE IS A THEORY THAT CERTAIN TYPES OF MAGNETIC FIELD CAN AFFECT THE FUNCTIONING OF THE BRAIN, Gray said, reusing a note from her earlier discussion with Doppler. THE FIELD INTERFERES WITH THE ELECTRICAL IMPULSES IN THE SYNAPSES.

"And do we have that type of magnetic field here?" Amelia got to the point.

YES. Gray nodded.

"In fact the core's magnetic field is in constant flux, but it's the location of the field lines that changes rather than their strength," said Doppler. "We...availed ourselves of Ms Mayflower's observational records to confirm our theory."

"I'm sure she has no objections," Amelia smiled at Aurora. "Go on, doctor."

"We started looking back through the data," said Doppler. "And there are spikes in magnetic activity associated with Falk's death, as well as his attack on Dr Gray and her medical staff."

"And with the incident on the berth deck with Patricker," Aurora murmured. She had moved around to join Doppler and was now bent over the table, studying the data intently.

IT WOULD APPEAR THAT THERE'S A CORRELATION, Gray noted.

"So it does." Amelia said thoughtfully. "Would you expect the effects of exposure to these fields to be as we've experienced?"

Gray nodded. WITH PROLONGED EXPOSURE, THE CONDITION MAY EVEN BECOME PERMANENT. THE BRAIN'S NEURONS MAY ADJUST TO ACCOMMODATE THE ROGUE BIOELECTRICAL SIGNALS.

"So we're in more danger with every minute we linger here," muttered Amelia. "And in the long term?"

Gray shrugged. FALK'S CASE MAY NOT BE ISOLATED. OR THERE MAY BE IRRECOVABLE BREAKDOWNS OF MENTAL FUNCTION.

"So we'll end up as a ghost ship populated by the dead and the damned," Amelia felt a chill run down her spine and thought of the silent, empty corridors of the _Black Knight_. "This is not an encouraging picture you're painting here, my dear doctors. Is there any good news at all?"

Doppler and Gray traded glances. Then they shook their heads. Amelia sighed.

"Well. You've at least pulled the pieces of the puzzle together. And I'm sure my Flag-Lieutenant will thank you for your efforts." Amelia smiled mirthlessly. "You just bought Mr Patricker a stay of execution."

"So he won't be hanged, ma'am?" Aurora looked up hopefully.

"Not yet," Amelia emphasised the second word. "But this remains a theory. Admittedly a persuasive one, but the proof positive can't come until we're clear of this cursed place and away from whatever magnetic fields may be affecting us. If that proves Dr Gray correct, then we'll reconsider the trial and sentencing."

"Thank you, ma'am." Aurora smiled.

"In the meantime, however," Amelia continued, "Send my compliments to Captain Rennier and ask him to attend us in here at once. I want him to hear the doctors' theory as well. We have some decisions to make."

"At once, ma'am," Aurora nodded and turned away.

I'M NEEDED BACK IN SICK BAY, Gray wrote, as Aurora left the room. MR WALTON SHOULD BE AWAKENING SOON.

"Very well." Amelia glanced at Doppler. "Will that pose a problem? I'd rather not delay briefing the Captain."

"I think I can manage by myself," Doppler said. "With due respect to Dr Gray, of course."

Gray nodded her thanks and withdrew. As the door closed behind her, Amelia moved around to study the data for herself. One of the doctors had drawn up a timeline of incidents and overlaid it with a graph showing the fluctuations in the dead core's magnetism. There was no mistaking the multiple intersections between the lines, each one marked and circled in red pencil and annotated with bewildering series of numbers and symbols. Surely it was too much to be coincidental? But then, perhaps she was so desperate for an answer that she was grabbing at the first thing that came to hand...

"How sure about this are you, Delbert?" she murmured.

"As sure as I can be." Doppler stood by her side. "I mean...it's not certain. As you said, we can't be sure until we get away from the core. But it would explain everything – why the _Black Knight_ was abandoned here, why the salvage crew mutinied, why Mr Falk suffered so...and all the things that have been happening to us since we got here."

"Us? Oh, Delbert," Amelia looked up with concern. "How selfish of me not to have asked...I hope you haven't been experiencing anything unpleasant?"

"Just constant headaches," said Doppler. "Dr Gray said I'm not the only one. No two brains are identical so it makes sense that there'd be a range of effects."

"It's a sad commentary on our situation that I'm glad to hear that," Amelia said wryly.

Doppler chuckled and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm grateful for your concern. I mean,you have so many other people to worry about."

"But I'm not married to them." Amelia took his hand off her shoulder and squeezed it tenderly. "And nor are they the father of my children."

"Lucky for me," Doppler smiled.

Amelia laughed – it felt good to be able to do that, as if she couldn't remember the last time. "I wouldn't want it to be anyone else."

Doppler blushed modestly. "Well, it was really Dr Gray who came up with the theory. I just helped with finding and interpreting the data-"

"I didn't mean it like that." Amelia smiled at him. "You don't seem to realise how good you are for me, Delbert Doppler. Even the thought of you is a source of strength to me, let alone your presence by my side. You're a light in the darkness, guiding my course."

"Oh, Amelia." Doppler's blush deepened. "I...I'm glad to be able to help."

"You do. In all sorts of ways." Amelia said. "And I don't thank you enough for it."

Doppler kissed her hand. "You don't need to."

Her breath caught a little at the gesture and she looked up into his eyes, taking comfort in their depths. They were dark eyes, but there was a warmth in them that was homely and so unlike the cold of space.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

There was a knock on the door and they turned to see Aurora peering around it apologetically.

"Er...sorry, ma'am. The Captain's on his way."

"Thank you, navigator." Amelia waved her in. "And since we're down one scientific genius, you'd better stay here when he arrives."

* * *

Rennier listened to Doppler's explanation, nodding politely. To the physicist's surprise, he didn't interrupt with queries. The Flag-Captain was a practical spacer and a professional officer, and, when the explanation was finished and he asked his one question, it wasn't about the theory.

"What are your orders, ma'am?" Rennier looked to Amelia.

"We leave here as soon as possible," said Amelia firmly. "If the doctors are correct, it's obvious that the longer we stay here, the worse our situation will become. We've already seen the case of Mr Falk to show us what prolonged exposure can cause and I have no intention of allowing the _Lyonesse_ to become a ghost ship like the _Black Knight_. I believe that the situation is already sufficiently tenuous that we have no choice but to act on the assumption that they _are_ correct."

"I'm inclined to agree, ma'am. Rennier turned to Aurora. "When do you expect the solar wind to reach us, navigator?

Aurora looked nervous. "I don't know, sir."

"You haven't even any indications?"

"No, sir. The field oscillations I've observed so far haven't been enough to let the wind through. And I don't know what indications I should be looking for to tell me when that'll change. I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for," said Doppler. "It's the nature of the core, Captain. We simply haven't had enough time to take all the observations we need to predict it."

"True enough. And in that case, doctor, when do you expect the _Black Knight_ 's engines to be operational?" asked Rennier. "We'll need it to tow us out of here if we can't rely on the wind."

Doppler sighed. "I don't know, either."

"You must have some idea," said Rennier. "Days? Weeks?"

"Months," said Doppler firmly. "You must understand what we're dealing with over there, Captain. I'm pretty sure that Mr Kilroy and I have managed to map out the power plant, the graviton induction system and the fuel containment system, and we _have_ made a start on the engine core, but it's not like one of our ships where the solar drive and everything else is basically independent and connected only by the power distribution grid. Practically everything on the _Black Knight_ is connected to everything else. So we don't just need to know the engine, we need to know all the ancillary systems as well because they might be critical to operating it. Systems that you wouldn't expect to be linked up are actually integrated at a very fundamental level. It's as if...as if the ship's not a ship but more of an organism, a living, technological body."

"Months," said Amelia bluntly.

Doppler nodded and looked down. "At best. And that's assuming that there are no unexpected surprises, and assuming that the engines can be repaired at all with what we've got. For all I know, we might need Forefather technology to do the job. And if we do, even if what we need is also on the _Black Knight_ , we'll have to work from scratch to identify it and work out how to use it."

Amelia sighed. "Is there no other way?"

"Not unless the orphan core's magnetic field shifts and the solar wind reaches us, ma'am," said Aurora.

"And there's no way of knowing when _that_ 'll happen, either."

Aurora shook her head. "I'm still taking observations. As Dr Doppler said, we just don't have enough data at the moment to make a prediction. Even though we know from Sorensen when the last field shift occurred, there's no telling whether it's a regular event or what preceded it."

"The magnetic flux is governed by the level and location of activity in the core," Doppler explained. "Which is determined by the ebb and flow of what little stellar fuel it has left. Sometimes, there'll be a brief concentration that manages to start a localised reaction. That's what causes the fields to shift. But those small localised reactions aren't enough to disperse the fields enough to let the wind in. The bigger reactions, like the one that let the salvors escape, would be very rare. Possibly even freakish."

"Would it be possible to manipulate the magnetic fields somehow?" Amelia raised an eyebrow. "To generate a bigger reaction?"

"In theory, ma'am," said Aurora. "But you'd need to deliver a...a massive amount of fuel to the core. Enough to catalyse a self-sustaining fusion reaction."

"So it's impossible." Rennier said

"No..."

Everyone looked around at Doppler, whose face was set in a frown of concentration. Amelia sat forward, recognising the signs of her husband's eccentric but brilliant mind at work.

"Doctor?"

"The fuel cells aboard the _Black Knight_ are full of stellar material," Doppler muttered. "Almost certainly harvested from this very star, back when it _was_ a star. There may just be enough there to trigger a reaction if we can reintroduce it to the core. Does anyone have a piece of paper I could borrow?"

He answered his own question by seizing the closest page of data, flipping it over and beginning to write furiously on the back. Aurora leaned over to follow the lines of complex calculation as Doppler worked, her lilac eyes wide as they watched.

"So it would be possible," she whispered.

"So it seems," Doppler checked his results and looked up. "If I'm right, that is."

"Assuming that you are, do you know how to make this work?" said Amelia.

"Yes. Well, I think so." Doppler nodded. "If we dump the contents of the fuel cells, the orphan core's gravity will drawn the contents down. The stellar material will be absorbed and dragged deep into the core's heart. And if there's enough of it, it'll reach the right density to catalyse the reaction we need to escape. It'll even generate its own stellar breeze as well as dispersing the magnetic fields holding the wind from us, so the ship's sails should generate more than enough power to let us get away."

"Are you sure you can do that, doctor?" asked Rennier.

"Well, the first part is comparatively simple," said Doppler. "It's just a matter of shutting down the fuel cell containment systems and reversing the graviton flow through the inducer array, and fortunately those are two of the few things on the _Black Knight_ that we _do_ understand. That would vent the contents of the cells out through the intake and the core's gravity will do the rest – the physics of stellar ignition aren't complicated. But there...there would still be some problems with this plan."

"Such as?" Amelia sat forward.

"For one thing, there's no telling how strong the reaction will be..." Doppler scratched his head. "At least, not for sure. Not with the data available at present."

"I'll have the ship ready with all sails spread to maximise the amount of energy we can capture," said Rennier. "Is there anything else?"

"Well...with the _Black Knight_ 's engines still inoperative...if they even still work at all after we dump the fuel...she won't be able to escape by herself." Doppler paused to think. "Could we possibly somehow take her in tow?"

"We could try," said Rennier doubtfully. "But it'd be a major risk. We don't know what she weighs. And since we don't know how strong the star's reignition will be, or how much energy we'll be able to capture, that weight might be the difference between a successful escape and a catastrophic failure – even assuming that we're carrying cable strong enough for the job. If it's all the same to you, Admiral, I'd prefer to leave the _Black Knight_ behind."

"That's a price I'm willing to pay at this point," said Amelia. "The safety of the _Lyonesse_ must be our top priority. And since the _Black Knight_ won't be going anywhere, we can always send a properly-equipped and forewarned expedition back here to recover it later. But there's a further problem that comes to mind."

"Ma'am?" Rennier cocked his head.

"Someone has to be on the _Black Knight_ to dump the fuel cells." Amelia turned to Doppler. "That someone will have to be you, doctor. We'll need Mr Kilroy here in the engine room."

"Yes." Doppler swallowed nervously. "I...I thought you were going to say that."

"And are you prepared to do that?" Rennier looked at him.

"Well-" Doppler began.

"There's yet another problem to consider, though," said Aurora quietly.

"What's that?" Rennier frowned.

"There's no telling how long the stellar reaction will last," Aurora said. "It could start in an instant...and burn out in another. To stand the best possible chance, the _Lyonesse_ would have to start her escape immediately."

"What you're saying is," said Amelia, "There's a risk of leaving him behind on the _Black Knight_."

"Y-yes, ma'am. I'm afraid so." Aurora looked at Doppler, her lilac eyes troubled and afraid.

"Well, doctor?" Rennier repeated his question.

Doppler felt his mouth dry out as he looked around the table. Amelia, Aurora and Rennier were all watching him expectantly.

"Yes. I can do it."

"Excellent." Amelia kept her tone businesslike, but her emotions were clearly written in her eyes as well.

"We'll need to brief the engineers," said Rennier. "Everything will depend on them, and they may need time to prepare the main engines. If you're able to re-ignite the star, doctor, I imagine that the effects could be rather dramatic. The last thing I'd want is an uncontrolled power surge that could cripple us before we escape."

Amelia tore her eyes away from Doppler and nodded. "Good idea, Captain. But I think I should brief the entire crew – they've suffered a great deal, and what we're proposing is hardly an orthodox solution..."

* * *

The crew were assembled on the main deck, facing the bridge. They presented a somewhat sorry sight – clearly weary, some sullen, and standing in their ranks more by force of habit than genuine conviction. Doppler looked at them with some concern. The ordeal being inflicted on them by the orphan core was clearly taking a toll. Amelia surveyed the assembly critically before she stepped forward to the bridge rail.

"Spacers and soldiers of the _Lyonesse_!"

Her voice rang out commandingly across the deck. Doppler expected her to continue in the same vein, and was therefore surprised when Amelia's tone in fact lowered and she spoke almost quietly.

"No commander could ask more of a crew than I have asked of you to this point. We have sailed far. We have fought hard. We have seen comrades killed and wounded. And now we lie becalmed here in this place of nightmares.

"But hope is not lost. For all our trials, there have been triumphs. You are the crew that defeated the Crimson Corsair. The crew that crossed two sectors to run him down and bring him to justice. The crew that stared down the Procyons and sent them home with their tails between their legs. What you have already achieved will stand in history as testament to your skill and your dedication. And now I must call on that skill and dedication once again.

"You must all have wondered: how long are we to drift here in the shadow of a dead star? And now we have our answer: no longer. Through careful inquiry, a plan has been developed to enable our escape. But putting that plan into action will demand every bit of your professionalism. Your officers will brief you on what will be required. It will not be simple, but I promise you this: it is nothing that cannot be done.

"I have been proud to sail with you. Together we have passed through storm and tempest, and through blood and fire. You have never let me down, and I have endeavoured to do the same in return. And now I ask you to step forward one more time. To stand to your stations. And to continue to conduct yourself in the finest traditions of Her Imperial Majesty's Royal Navy."

She turned away and nodded to Rennier. "Dismiss the crew, Flag-Captain."

"All hands, attention!" Rennier shouted. "Divisional officers! Dismiss!"

"Well," said Amelia turning back to Doppler. "That went about as well as could be expected."

"I thought it went rather well indeed," said Doppler, watching as the crew broke up and went back to their duties. They already looked more disciplined and motivated, and there was a sense of hope that had not been there before. It was a distant hope – a light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel – but it had clearly made a difference.

"I certainly hope so." Amelia nodded to Rennier. "Send Mr Sorensen to see me, would you, Captain?

"Yes, ma'am. Right away."

"Just to be sure," said Kilroy, who had been on the bridge during the speech and who had briefly been told of the scheme, "We are proposing to do something that's as crazy as I think, aren't we?"

Doppler looked around. "Why? What do you think we're proposing to do?"

"I think we're proposing to use the untested secrets of an ancient civilisation to jump-start a dead star," said Kilroy.

Doppler grinned at the engineer's phrasing. "Well, if you want to put it that way...yes. Exactly."

"Only checking," Kilroy grinned at Doppler. "I suppose we'd better start getting ready, eh?"

"Indeed you had, Mr Kilroy," said Amelia as she passed by. "Commander Vendross won't mind your absence. But I'd ask you to come with me now, doctor. I may benefit from your support. Mr Sorensen may not take as kindly to our plan as the crew have..."

* * *

Doppler had to admire his wife's grasp of psychological warfare. She'd positioned herself behind the conference table, well in the light, adopting an attitude which clearly suggested that the matter had already been resolved. Which, he supposed, it had been. Amelia seldom changed her mind once it was made up. For his own part, Doppler stood off to one side, the critical data arrayed in front of him. He glanced over it to refresh his memory, then straightened up and adjusted his ascot when the expected rap on the door came.

"Enter." Amelia's voice was stern and authoritative.

The door opened to admit the marine sentry, who stepped inside and snapped to attention. "Mr Sorensen to see you, Admiral."

"Thank you, lance-corporal," Amelia said. "Show him in."

"Ma'am." The marine stood back to let Sorensen in, then saluted and left, closing the door behind him. The salvor looked as out of place as he always did in Amelia's grand stateroom as he faced her across the table.

"Er..." he began.

"Mr Sorensen." Amelia nodded to him. "Thank you for coming."

"It's not a problem," said Sorensen, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "I take it from that speech of yours that your people have figured out a way to get out of here?"

"That's the idea, yes," Amelia nodded. "We're going to dump the _Black Knight_ 's fuel cells into the star to reignite it. My chief medical officer was able to identify that the star is the source of the...behavioural troubles that we've seen. What happened to your Mr Falk, for example. And perhaps what led to the mutiny on your ship."

"Oh. Yes?" Sorensen looked interested.

"It turns out that the star is radiating some sort of magnetic field that affects behaviour," said Amelia. "Hence our haste in leaving this place."

"The sooner the better, I say," said Sorensen. "I'm just glad it weren't the _Black Knight_. Might make it a bit hard to sell her once we get her into port."

"That's rather why I asked to see you," Amelia folded her arms. "I'm afraid we're leaving the _Black Knight_ behind. We haven't got her engines operational yet and we can't risk trying to take her in tow."

"Leave her...here?" Sorensen looked alarmed. "But...but I thought that we were taking her with us."

"The plan has changed," said Amelia. "It would take too long to repair her. And we know that the longer we spend here, the more danger we're in."

"Yes, but...I thought we had a deal-"

"Then you thought wrong." Amelia cut him off so sharply that Doppler winced in sympathy. "This is one of Her Majesty's ships of war, Mr Sorensen. Not a come-as-you-call tramper. And I'm a Vice-Admiral of the fleet, not an opportunistic merchantman."

"But," Sorensen protested. "The value of the _Black Knight_ , I mean...just ask Dr Doppler. He knows. And your engineer officer." He looked pleadingly at Doppler, who blanched and looked away.

"Er, I think we're talking about two different kinds of value-"

" _Whatever_ kind of value," said Amelia. "It pales beside the value of the lives and sanity of everyone on this ship."

"But my crew have...what we've been through," Sorensen swallowed. "The mutiny...being marooned here to die...what happened to Falk. We've been through hell for this salvage and we can't just throw it away."

"Actually, the _Black Knight_ won't be destroyed," said Doppler mildly. "It should hold orbit even after the core's reignited, so it'll still be here."

"Not for long, once word gets out!" Sorensen objected. "Salvage Guild'll be all over it – and that's assuming that some other freelancer doesn't get there first. Have you forgotten that I don't have a ship any more?"

"Something about living by the sword comes to mind," Amelia glared. "If salvage rights are what concerns you, then it will be recorded that you were there first. So if it comes before an Admiralty Court-"

"The damn lawyers'll take half of what she's worth even if we win!" shouted Sorensen.

" _Don't interrupt me_." Amelia's eyes flashed and the steel in her tone managed to cut through even Sorensen's agitation. "We have bigger concerns than your financial state. I can only apologise if you've been labouring under the apprehension that any kind of arrangement existed between us, but that will not stop me doing my duty. I have an obligation to protect my crew. As do you."

"But...look, Admiral," Sorensen tried one last time. "Surely there's time to...to reconsider! We might be able to come to some sort of understanding-"

"I'll pretend you didn't try to bribe a Queen's officer just there," said Amelia. "And the order has already been given. I asked you here to inform you as a _courtesy_ , not to engage in discussion."

"I-" Sorensen blinked. "My men _died_ for this salvage, Admiral. They suffered and they lived in fear and they _died_. And you'd take it away from them now?"

Doppler watched Amelia close her eyes for a moment and his heart went out to her as he realised what she was thinking of and just how hard she must be working to keep her authoritative facade in place. "Don't think that I don't know what it's like to lose people, Mr Sorensen. That may in fact be the one way in which I have sympathy for you. But the loss of those crew will not be made better by the loss of more. The decision has been made. We're leaving. And that decision will save what's left of your crew, not to mention yourself."

"I see." Sorensen folded his arms bitterly. "Well. I suppose I should thank you for that _courtesy_ you mentioned, Admiral. Shall I tell my lads?"

"I think that would be best."

Amelia watched him go, and exhaled a relieved sigh when the door closed behind him.

"Well. That wasn't so bad."

"You handled it well." Doppler took off his spectacles and rubbed his forehead.

"I wasn't lying when I said I had sympathy for him," said Amelia. "He's determined. And understandably so given what he and his crew have been through."

"Almost as determined as you." Doppler smiled. "Though he reminds me somewhat of that old story about the whaling ship captain who became obsessed with hunting the great white void whale.

"That story is mandatory reading at the Interstellar Academy." Amelia chuckled. "It tells you that leadership isn't all about blind determination. You don't just press on, no matter the cost. You owe it to your people to balance their lives against the objective. You owe it to them not to throw their lives away."

"And I know you never would." Doppler said.

Amelia smiled at him. "Thank you. And thank you for being here. I know you didn't get a chance to say your piece."

Doppler shrugged. "I'm happy to help. But I should go and find Mr Kilroy so we can get to work on preparations."

"Naturally." Amelia agreed. "Carry on, doctor. Don't let me detain you."

* * *

Sorensen crossed the main deck to stand by the mainmast under the jackstay that ran between the _Lyonesse_ and the _Black Knight_ , his hat pulled down firmly onto his head and his arms crossed. He glanced around him at the busy spacers and marines, and reached slowly into the inner pocket of his threadbare coat. His fingers brushed the handle of the switchblade he carried there and closed around it. He smiled bitterly and withdrew the compact weapon, testing its weight in his hand as Amelia's words echoed around his mind.

 _So the decision's already been made, then_ , he thought. _And here I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this again..._


	8. Chapter 8

Doppler was awake unusually late that night, carefully studying the drawings he and Kilroy had made of the controls in the _Black Knight_ and writing out the sequence that would be needed to dump the stellar material from the alien ship's fuel cells. It was a slow process and took a great deal of cross-referencing against the intricate diagrams of the circuits to which the controls corresponded. Doppler ran his hand through his hair and frowned in concentration.

 _Right...circle, petals, half-moon, squiggly thing, set of three triangles, squiggly thing..._

He turned and reached for a cup of water on the corner of his desk without taking his eyes off the diagrams before him. As a result, he missed, and the cup clattered off the edge, spilling its contents across the floor and part of his cot through luckily not across any of the meticulously-compiled paperwork. Cursing, he stood and picked up his towel to start dabbing up the water. He was on his hands and knees, reaching under the hanging cot, when there was a quiet knock on his door.

"Comi-ow!" He sat up too quickly, banging his head on the wooden frame of the bed. "Coming!"

Rubbing the back of his head, he tossed the towel aside and opened his door. To his surprise, Aurora was standing diffidently in the passage outside, a lantern in her hand.

"Ms Mayflower!" Doppler blinked. "I wasn't expecting you at this hour."

"No, I...I know." Aurora smiled hesitantly. "I'm sorry to disturb you."

"Oh, no. I believe I was sufficiently disturbed prior to your arrival," Doppler stepped back and indicated the spillage. "Please, come in. Is there something you need?"

Aurora closed the door behind her. "Someone to talk to."

"Ah?" Doppler sat down. "May I ask what about?"

There were no other chairs in the cabin, but Aurora perched on the edge of the bed. She seemed very small and self-contained, and not just because she was avoiding the damp patch.

"Tomorrow," she said quietly. "Well...among other things."

"I have the calculations for the core's ignition right here," said Doppler. "If you'd like to go over them again? Though there's still no surefire way of predicting timings of any reaction. You'll just have to be ready whenever it happens."

"The ship will be prepared," Aurora nodded.

"Then there's nothing more you can do," Doppler said. "After that, it's up to your training and your instincts."

"I'm afraid you're right about that."

Doppler stared. "What do you mean?"

Aurora sighed and looked away.

"I'm not a natural spacer, really," she said. "In truth, I never even wanted to join the Navy."

"You didn't?" Doppler was surprised. He'd naturally assumed that Aurora had followed Amelia's example after having been raised with her.

"No. Not for some years." Aurora smiled oddly. "Which I suppose is why Amelia is a Vice-Admiral and a sector commander and I'm a mere lieutenant and a ship's navigator, even though I'm not _that_ much younger than her."

"Don't ever say 'mere'," said Doppler. "Even you junior officers have great responsibilities. And Amelia...well, there was a major war right when she graduated and that does wonders for promotion prospects, I hear."

"I suppose so." Aurora tried to smile.

"So...what changed your mind? About the Navy, I mean."

"Well...it wasn't easy. The Navy took both my parents." Aurora said. "And I never knew how either of them died. I didn't want to follow them. So even when I came of age, I didn't enlist. And that caused some friction at home with Amelia's family as you can imagine."

"What did you do?"

"I left. I tried my hand at a few things. Worked in a shop. Tried to be a painter. Never got anywhere with any of it. And then one day Amelia came to see me. She was a Commander back then. She was back home on shore leave and she just walked in on me in her uniform, sat down and started talking to me." Aurora shook her head. "For hours. I hadn't seen her in...I can't even remember how long. But she acted as if no time had passed at all."

"What happened?" Doppler sat forward.

"She said that the Navy needed good people. People like me." Aurora gave a fleeting smile. "It had been a long time since I'd thought of myself as a good person. And longer still that I thought that anyone had _needed_ me. So when she asked if I'd be willing to try it out, I couldn't say no. And then I got into the Academy, discovered navigation and...well, here I am. All because of her."

"She's changed a lot of lives for the better," Doppler nodded. "Mine, too. And I'm glad she could do it for you, too. Because she's right. People will always need people like you."

"I wish I could believe that." Aurora looked down.

Doppler fixed her with a stern gaze over the tops of his spectacles. "You'd better do more than just 'wish', my dear. You're one of the brightest and most capable individuals I've ever had the honour of working with. And I know that Amelia sees it, too, or she wouldn't have chosen you as her aide."

"I know she's always believed in me. But what if she's wrong?" Aurora raised her head, her eyes dark with pain. "It's because of me that we're stuck here. That Partridge died, that Patricker might still hang, that you have to go and risk your life, that-"

" _No_ ," said Doppler firmly, raising a finger. "Stop right there. That's the core talking, not you. Those effects Dr Gray was talking about. It's getting into your head and making you think like this. After tomorrow, after we escape, you'll feel much better."

"I hope so," Aurora shook her head. "And you're the one who has to make that happen. How selfish of me to impose on you."

"Oh, no, no, no!" Doppler put a hand on her shoulder. "Please don't think that. I mean...aside from anything else, you'll have to position the _Lyonesse_ to catch the wind when we ignite the core, so we're all counting on you, too."

"If you can send me the wind, I can catch it," said Aurora. "Just be quick about getting back on board. The reaction won't last long and if you don't make it back from the _Black Knight_ then we'll have to..."

"Leave me behind." Doppler felt his own heart flinch at the thought. "Yes, I...I know. I've thought about it a lot. And I know it may come to that."

"I just can't imagine the Admiral giving that order," Aurora said quietly. "It would be so hard for her..."

"But she'd do it," said Doppler. "And it's one of the reasons I love her so much. There's nothing in the universe that would stop her getting this ship home with you and everyone else safely on board."

"Still, I hope it won't come to that." Aurora shivered. "For her sake as much as yours."

"You and I both." Doppler gave what he hoped was an encouraging grin.

"Be careful over there, though," Aurora met his eyes.

"You needn't worry about me." Doppler shook his head. "I promise not to trip over anything – that's about the worst thing that could happen."

"I suppose so." Aurora managed a small smile. "And I suppose I'd better let you get back to your planning, too."

Doppler shrugged. "I just hope I've been able to help."

"You have. Thank you." Aurora stood up and looked at him honestly. "I mean it. I could hardly have said any of that to the other officers in the wardroom. And I don't want to add to the Admiral's fears."

"I'm glad I could be of assistance." Doppler smiled. "I could always try telling you a joke if you still need cheering up? Though I'm afraid most of the ones I know are astrophysics jokes."

She looked at him curiously. "Oddly enough, they never covered those in the Academy."

"Oh, there are quite a few." Doppler grinned. "Like the one about the neutrino that went into a bar. And kept on going."

Aurora chucked. "That's terrible, doctor."

"How many absolute relativists does it take to change a light bulb? One to hold the bulb, and one to rotate the universe around it."

"Oh, stop it." Aurora was laughing now.

"And I could go on." Doppler stood as well. "Good night, Aurora."

"Good night, doc- Delbert." Aurora gave him a small, shy nod of thanks and left, closing the door behind her. He sighed and sat back down again, pulling his papers towards himself. The flash of humour had gone, and a darkness was throbbing painfully at the back of his brain again.

 _Thank goodness we're leaving tomorrow_ , he thought. _I'm not sure how much longer we can last..._

* * *

The ship's bell rang in the forenoon watch the next day, the clear notes carrying a surprising distance throughout the hull. For those further-flung or better-insulated areas, where the tannoy would normally operate, spacers coming off watch were sent around to rouse their replacements. Lieutenant Kilroy, wearing his orange boiler suit, was leaving his cabin when someone called his name.

"Mr Sorensen?" He turned around. "Good morning to you."

"Yeah. And to you." Sorensen stepped forward. "Do you have a minute?"

Kilroy shrugged. "Sure. I'm not actually on watch yet. I was just going to go and check that the doc was all set before getting some breakfast."

"So you're going to be going over to the _Black Knight_ with him?"

"No. I'm staying here." Kilroy shook his head. "It's only a one-person job anyway and he knows what to do. He's got a copy of all our diagrams."

Sorensen looked up. "A copy? Who's got the others?"

"Just me." Kilroy waved at his cabin door. "It's all done on carbon paper. We'll have to wait until we get back to port to do proper reproductions. Every engineer in the Empire'll line up to see them when we do, though."

"Right." Sorensen nodded. "Mind if I see them? If you've got time. I'd like to see what's going to happen."

"Why not?" Kilroy opened the cabin door again. Sorensen stepped behind him, the rattle of the door obscuring a click of metal from inside the salvor's coat...

* * *

The deck of the _Lyonesse_ was a hive of activity. Doppler dodged past a hurrying spacer and looked up to where other crew were racing up through the rigging and working on the sails. The ship's canvas had been at full spread ever since they arrived due to the desperate need to wring energy from the anaemic solar breeze, but the crew were now hard at work securing the sails and bracing the yards. Nothing was being left to chance. Doppler watched and hoped that he was going to be able to justify all this effort. Looking up to the bridge he saw Aurora working at her console and Rennier in conference with Lieutenant Macpherson.

"Ready, sir?"

The petty officer overseeing the jackstay crew touched his forehead respectfully. The longboat was resting against the _Lyonesse_ 's side and the spacers who would haul on the line to pull it across to the _Black Knight_ were watching him expectantly. Doppler nodded and hefted the folder under his arm.

"Yes. As ready as I'll ever be."

"I'm very pleased to hear it." Amelia smiled. Doppler spun around to see her standing just behind him. His heart lifted at the sight of her.

"Well, one can't let the side down," he managed.

"Indeed not." Amelia nodded. "You know what you're meant to do over there?"

"Dump the stellar fuel and come back as quickly as physically possible," said Doppler, patting the folder. "The theory is quite sound. It's the, er, practice that remains untested."

"You and Ms Mayflower are yet to be proven wrong on matters mathematical," Amelia observed.

Doppler coughed. "Well. We've done our best. As has everyone. I assume that the ship is ready?"

"As ready as _she'll_ ever be." Amelia nodded. "No need to worry about us, doctor. Riding the wind is what we do."

"And you do it well." Doppler agreed.

"Just make sure you get back to the longboat," Amelia nodded. "We'll get you back on board in no time."

"I know." Doppler could see the look in Amelia's eyes. She was doing well at maintaining a brisk, professional facade, but he knew that there was more that she wanted to say. Just as, he had to admit, there were things he wanted to say as well. But in public, on the main deck, was hardly the place for such intimacy, especially from a flag officer, and he knew that there would have to be words left unspoken. In that case, it was best to get it over with.

"I'll be careful," he promised. "Just so long as you are, too."

"When have I ever been otherwise?" Amelia tried a smile. "Good luck, doctor."

"Thank you." Doppler watched her nod to the petty officer and turn away, moving towards the bridge. Trying not to think that it might well be his last sight of her, he clambered into the longboat and signalled to the crew. At a bellow from the petty officer, the spacers took up the strain and began hauling the boat along the cable towards the _Black Knight_. Doppler tried to focus on the docking port, rather than glance over the side at the stomach-churning drop to the grey surface of the core below. The longboat's engine and tiller was covered by a bulky blue tarpaulin, leaving him with nothing to hang onto but the gunwales, which he gripped tightly. It seemed to take an eternity to cover the distance and he couldn't help but feel lonely as he sat by himself, waiting for the lurch and bump as it reached the wooden docking port built onto the _Black Knight_ 's flank.

"Well," he murmured to himself. "Here we are."

He climbed out of the boat awkwardly – he'd never mastered the art of disembarking with dignity – collected his folder, straightened his clothing and set off into the depths of the alien ship, forcing himself not to look back.

"Godspeed, Delbert," Amelia whispered, watching him go from the deck of the _Lyonesse._

"Begging your pardon, ma'am," said Midshipman Collis behind her. "But you're needed on the bridge."

"Thank you, Mr Collis." Amelia straightened up and folded her hands behind her back, resuming her normal posture and banishing any sign of fear. "I'll be there directly."

"Yes, ma'am." Collis touched his hat and hurried off. Amelia took a deep breath and followed him, resisting the urge to glance over her shoulder.

* * *

Sorensen waited for Doppler to disembark, and then waited a couple of minutes more to ensure that the longboat wasn't being winched straight back to the _Lyonesse._ Once he was certain that any watching eyes had gone back to other tasks, he tossed aside the tarpaulin and climbed out of the boat. Pausing to withdraw the switchblade from his pocket, he set off into the depths of the _Black Knight_.

* * *

"All sails, loose, sir," said Aurora. "Yards braced up. Engine room reports standing by."

"Very good," Rennier was pacing the bridge deck. "Keep all hands at stations. There's nothing left to do now but wait."

"Aye, sir." Aurora glanced around at Amelia, who caught her looking and nodded to her.

"Is your course set, navigator?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Aurora touched her hat, knowing that her Admiral must be preoccupied with thoughts of Doppler. "All we need now is the wind."

"I'm sure it will be with us presently." Amelia turned to look at the _Black Knight_. As if in answer, the alien ship's nose cone suddenly opened up, dividing into four neat wedges delineated by lines of light before they opened like giant petals. She smiled to herself, knowing that it meant that her husband's work was succeeding.

She almost allowed herself a flash of optimism, but her attention was distracted by a sudden commotion on the deck below. Frowning in irritation, she strode to the edge of the bridge and looked down.

"What's the meaning of this?" she demanded.

A knot of spacers had emerged from the companionway, led by Major Tansley. As they turned, Amelia saw Lieutenant Kilroy being half-carried in the middle of them, blood running down his face and an arm clutched tight across his midriff.

"It's Sorensen," Tansley shouted. "It's bloody Sorensen!"

"What?" Amelia's eyes narrowed as she hurried down to the main deck.

"He's gone," one of the men supporting the wounded engineer said. Amelia recognised him as one of the rescued salvors and turned her glare on him.

"It's Ruskin, isn't it? What do you mean, _gone_?"

"To the _Black Knight_ ," Ruskin stammered. "He...he tried to get us to go with him. He doesn't want to leave. He wants to stay with the salvage. We told him to get stuffed, and then he went off and disappeared."

"And you didn't tell anyone this before?"

"We thought he'd just gone somewhere!" said Ruskin frantically. "But then-"

"Then the bastard came to see me," growled Kilroy. "Asked about Dr Doppler. Wanted to know what he was going to have to do. Then he stabbed me from behind. I hit my head when I went down. He must have thought I was dead because he just ransacked my notes and left me there."

"He was unconscious in his cabin when we found him, ma'am," said Tansley. "His boiler suit saved him, but he insisted on reporting to you before going to sick bay. Then we questioned the other salvage crew."

"It's like what he did on the _Adar_ ," said Ruskin. "When the captain said for us to leave. He wouldn't accept it then, either."

"He-" Amelia stopped as realisation dawned. "That mutiny on your ship... _you_ were the mutineers?"

"He said the salvage would make us all rich," Ruskin looked down. "Said we couldn't just walk away from it. And we believed him. So when the wind came up again and the captain and the rest of the crew went to leave, we...tried to stop them. They threw us off the ship and left us behind. And now he's making it all happen again. When we told him we wouldn't help him, he cursed us and said he'd do it himself."

Amelia turned to Rennier and Ko, who had followed her to the main deck. "Search the ship, Captain. Every hold, every locker, and find him before-"

"He's not on board," said Kilroy. "I reckon he's already on the _Black Knight_. Sneaked over there somehow."

Rennier looked across the jackstay to the docking port. "He must have hidden in the longboat, ma'am. There'd have been a chance while the crew were all busy preparing for departure."

Amelia's blood ran cold. "Is he still armed, Mr Kilroy?"

"I don't know, ma'am. I'm sorry."

"Not your fault." Amelia nodded to Tansley. "Get the lieutenant to sickbay at once. And Sergeant-Major?"

"Ma'am?" Ko stepped forward.

"Give me your weapons belt, please." Amelia held out a hand. "And get that longboat back over here."

Ko hesitated for a moment before complying, unbuckling the white leather belt holding her sword and sidearm and passing it over as she realised what Amelia intended to do.

"If you want, ma'am, I can get a fireteam ready in-"

"No." Amelia shook her head. "I don't want any more people risking themselves over there than necessary. I'll go."

"The escape plan, ma'am," Rennier began. "What if-"

"Continue the plan as discussed, Captain," said Amelia, buckling on the weapons.

"But-"

"I said, continue the plan!" Amelia snapped. She looked up to see Aurora watching in anxiety from the bridge. "Get the ship to safety as soon as you can."

"As you wish, ma'am." Rennier saluted. "Good luck."

Amelia returned the salute and turned back to where the longboat had just been pulled back to the _Lyonesse_. She climbed aboard and then nodded to the crew to start hauling it out again. As the boat set off on its short, but painfully-slow journey, she drew her laslock pistol and checked the charge, her eyes narrowed and her heart racing with sudden fear.

* * *

The lonely walk through the _Black Knight_ 's deserted corridors had been a challenge for Doppler, each step into the gloom bringing the weight of his task more heavily down upon his shoulders and the horror of the ancient crew's presumable fate now seemed to permeate the air. The only sounds he could hear were the echoes of his footfalls along the vacant passageways, and the increasing thud of his own heartbeat in his ears. It had been with some relief that he'd reached the generator room and had been able to emerge into the bright light of the fuel cells lining the chamber walls. Hastening to the controls, he opened his folder and studied the diagrams therein one last time.

"Let's see here..."

He touched the matt black surface of the console, which sprang to life, projecting a hovering, three-dimensional constellation of control runes. He studied it intently, mentally rehearsing the planned sequence of control inputs before he reached out a hesitant finger and activated a series of icons to open the nose cone of the ship and power up the tractor beam ready to dump the fuel. His acute hearing picked up a distant hum of actuators and he sighed with relief to know that the first stage had been successfully accomplished.

"Well, that wasn't so hard," he muttered. "Now, then..."

He turned a page and began running through the checklist to open the fuel cells and reverse the tractor beam's pull. Whilst he was fairly sure that the process was right, it was inescapable that it had never been tried before and he could only hope they'd got it right. He reached out again and touched a rune at the edge of the controls. It glowed brightly and there was a faint hum of power.

"Hello, doctor."

The unexpected voice almost made him jump out of his fur. He whirled around and saw Sorensen standing at the entrance to the generator room.

"Mr Sorensen! What are you doing here? Nobody else is supposed to be on board..."

"I...I know." Sorensen began walking towards him. "I wanted to talk with you. Alone. I think you're one of the few people who understands how important this ship is. I think we could reach...an understanding. To put an end to this madness."

"What madness? You mean the escape plan?" Doppler stared. "But...but we have to leave. If we stay, it'll be a fate worse than death!"

"If we leave, we'll never come back," said Sorensen. "This ship and all its secrets will be lost. We'd be throwing away a fortune."

"And our lives," said Doppler. "You know what the star's done. It did it to this ship's first crew. It did it to the crew on your ship. And it'll do it to us, too. We've no choice but to leave."

"I can't let that happen." Sorensen reached the control platform. "I've given too much to get this ship. That's why I need your help."

"What do you want from me?" Doppler backed up nervously, not at all liking the tone of the salvor's voice.

"To stop." Sorensen said simply. "Don't go through with it. Then we'll have to stay here."

"But I'm not the only one who knows how to work the controls," said Doppler. "Even if I agreed with you, Mr Kilroy would be sent over to do it."

"No. He wouldn't be." Sorensen shook his head. "I've already seen him. He didn't agree with me either, so I had to...had to deal with him another way."

"You..." Doppler stared as realisation set in. "What have you done?"

"I didn't want to do it," said Sorensen. "But he left me no choice. So really, doctor...when I tell you to stop this..."

There was a metallic click. Doppler watched in horror as the salvor raised his switchblade, the razor edge gleaming in the light of the fuel cells. And was it his imagination, or was there recently-dried blood in the recesses of the hilt?

"I don't want to hurt you, either," Sorensen went on. "But I will, if I have to. I've sacrificed too much for this salvage. Step away from the console. Or else I'll make _sure_ you can't finish the sequence."

Doppler raised his hands and stepped backwards. "There's really no need for this-"

"It's the only way now," Sorensen advanced. "Please, doctor. Hands behind your back."

Transfixed by the shining blade now just inches from his chest, Doppler complied. Sorensen moved around behind him and wrapped a cord around his wrists.

"You don't have to-"

"Now we're going to go back to the docking port," said Sorensen. "And you're going to tell the Admiral that the plan's over. That we're staying here with the _Black Knight_. She'll have no choice but to accept."

 _"Is that so?"_

Doppler looked up, his heart suddenly leaping at the sound of Amelia's commanding voice, and then simultaneously plunging as he realised that it meant she was now sharing the danger with him. She stepped out of the entrance onto the walkway, a vision of blue, white and gold as striking as the _Lyonesse_ herself, a laslock pistol raised in her hand. Sorensen moved quickly, yanking Doppler back by his collar and bringing his knife around to the canid's throat.

"Don't come any closer!"

Amelia stopped, her hand tightening on the grip of the pistol. Sorensen was using Doppler as a shield and she couldn't see enough of him to be sure of placing a shot – or at least, of placing a shot certain to debilitate him before he could use the knife. The switchblade was not a visually impressive weapon by comparison to the cutlass at her side, but it was more than sufficient for the job at hand.

"Let him go, Sorensen," she said. "Don't make this any harder on yourself than it is already."

"You're the one who has a decision to make, Admiral," said Sorensen. He grabbed Doppler's ponytail and jerked his head back, making him cry out in pain. Amelia hissed at the sound.

"I don't negotiate with mutineers," she snarled.

"Mutineers?" Doppler exclaimed. "You mean-"

"Yes. There _was_ a mutiny on the salvage ship and Mr Sorensen here _was_ on the losing side of it," said Amelia, advancing slowly. "But what he hasn't told us is that he _started_ it. Your crew have told me everything, Mr Sorensen. They're not on your side this time."

"No. They were weak." Sorensen spat. "They don't understand. After everything we've been through for this salvage, the idiots want to throw it all away! And you'll stop there, Admiral. Stop there and drop your weapons. I can hurt the doctor without killing him, you know that."

Amelia stood still, eyes narrowed as she tried one last time to line up a shot. With no opportunity presenting itself, she lowered the pistol and let it clatter to the floor.

"And your sword as well," Sorensen said. "Slowly, now."

Amelia gritted her teeth as she put her hand on the hilt of her cutlass. She met Doppler's wide, frightened eyes and cursed herself for having rushed into the situation so unprepared. There was a silken, metallic sound as she drew the sword, and then another harsh clatter as it landed on the deck next to the pistol.

"That's right," said Sorensen. "Now step forward so they're behind you."

Doppler watched as Amelia did so. He could feel the blood pounding in his ears. Sorensen's tone was increasingly frantic, and he didn't like the idea of a frantic person holding a knife at his throat. He'd hoped that Amelia's arrival would resolve the situation, but the wily salvor had positioned himself with all the advantages. He was having flashbacks to their abduction on Treasure Planet, but John Silver's pirates had been a sane and steady enemy compared to the erratic Sorensen...

 _But it's still the same. Amelia trying her best, so strong and brave. And you, panicking and useless like always, like the weakling you are-_

He stopped suddenly as he remembered something else from the past.

 _A weakling...but with abnormally thin wrists..._

He moved his hands experimentally, sliding them against the cord tied around his wrists. To his delight, there was just enough leeway to start working his right hand loose – the cord had been tied around the voluminous cuff of his coat in Sorensen's haste. As he worked, he racked his brain to come up with a plan.

"Stay right there, Admiral," Sorensen warned. "There's nothing you can do. I won't let him go, and you can't kill me."

"You are threatening my husband and jeopardising the safety of my ship," said Amelia darkly. "What in all the worlds makes you think I _won't_ kill you? You think I need a pistol or a cutlass to do that?"

"You can't kill me before I'd be able to kill him," said Sorensen. "The cards are all in my hand. You can see that. So let's talk."

"There's nothing to talk about," snapped Amelia. "How do you think this will end, Mr Sorensen? I have one of the most powerful warships in the Empire out there. The best part of three hundred souls, all of them trained, all of them armed and not one of them who wouldn't sooner shoot you down than stay here. What do you think you can do in this room that will deny them?"

"There's only one person who knows how to operate the controls on this ship," said Sorensen triumphantly. "And I've got him right here."

"Wrong. Mr Kilroy's alive," said Amelia. "You didn't kill him. It looks like your second mutiny isn't working out any better than your first one, doesn't it?"

Doppler sighed with relief, but Sorensen yanked on his collar again. "That doesn't matter!"

"I think you'll find it does," said Amelia, stepping forward. "It means that, whatever you do here, we're leaving. All that's left is for you to decide whether you want to come with us and live, or to stay here and die with your precious salvage."

"It's more than just precious! It's _priceless_! Tell her, doctor!" Sorensen shouted, pointing at Amelia with his knife. "Tell her!"

Doppler looked at Amelia, meeting her eyes. "Amelia..."

"Delbert?" She searched his face.

"Do you trust me?" Doppler raised his eyebrows, hoping that Sorensen couldn't see his face.

Amelia caught the meaning in his expression. She didn't know just what he had in mind, but she braced herself for anything as she replied.

"Completely," she said.

Doppler nodded. And then he struck, jerking his right elbow back into Sorensen's stomach before he threw himself forward in a desperate attempt to break free of his grasp. He felt the blow connect and heard Sorensen swear, but the salvor recovered surprisingly quickly and struck out with his switchblade. Doppler yelped as he felt a sudden, sharp sting in his ear and he landed heavily on the hard metal grate of the floor. But Amelia was already moving, a feral snarl on her lips, striking like lightning and cannoning into Sorensen, knocking him away from Doppler. She drew back her hand and threw a snakebite-fast punch that sent the salvor reeling back against the railing. He tried to raise his knife to block her, but she caught his wrist in her left hand and slashed the claws of her right across his face. Sorensen yelled and dropped his weapon, which skittered across the floor. Reversing the swing of her hand, Amelia balled it into a fist and landed a punch which lifted him up and over the railing, his limp body falling from the platform and bouncing with a sickening crunch off the top of a glowing fuel cell before disappearing into the bottom of the chamber. She flexed her fingers and nodded with satisfaction as she recovered her composure.

"Are you all right, Delbert? Your ear-"

Doppler got back to his feet, panting. "I'm fine. And thank you. You're not hurt?"

"No," said Amelia. "And well done on that move just there."

Doppler shrugged and tried a grin. "Abnormally thin wrists, remember?"

Amelia laughed. "How could I forget? But we're not out of danger yet. Can you finish the sequence to dump the fuel?"

Doppler nodded as he tried to straighten his coat. "Yes, of course. But we'll have to start moving as soon as it's finished."

"I don't plan on staying here a moment longer than necessary." Amelia was collecting and sheathing her weapons. "Carry on."

"Right." Doppler moved over to the glowing control array again. Trying to refocus his mind on the exacting task before him, he took a deep breath and reached into the constellation of controls again. Amelia watched him work, the green glow reflecting in the lenses of his spectacles and his brow furrowed in concentration as he carefully picked out the complex series of runes.

"Is it done?"

Doppler touched a final icon and nodded. "It's done. I've disengaged the containment fields and rigged the tractor beam to reverse, which should expel-"

A strange, discordant sound rang out, and it took Amelia a moment to realise it was an alarm of some sort. She opened her mouth to ask Doppler whether that was meant to happen, but then saw that the blazing light of the fuel cells was dimming as the levels of incandescent material within them began falling.

"I'd say that it's working," she murmured.

"So it looks," Doppler joined her as the shadows in the chamber lengthened as the light died away. "Which means we should be getting out of here."

Amelia smiled. "I'm right behind you, doctor."

* * *

It wasn't far back to the docking port, but it was clear even before they reached it that something was changing. The _Black Knight_ began rolling and pitching, imperceptibly at first but with growing strength until Doppler and Amelia were forced to brace themselves against each other. There was a distant roar of wind that also grew in volume as they neared the exposed docking port, and necessitated shouting to be heard by the time they arrived in it. The thin wooden structure creaked alarmingly like a run-down shack in a storm, and the reason was soon evident. The view through the port – once so placid – was stained with fiery reds and oranges. Flashes of yellow lightning struck up from below. Stumbling over to the entrance past the longboat, Doppler looked down, his eyes wide.

"It's the star!" he shouted.

The once-grey surface of the star had transformed completely. It was boiling with fury, whirlpools and tornadoes of flame dancing across the tortured surface. A gust of hot wind blasted up at him so strongly that it made the ships lurch again. Attached only by the thin line of the jackstay, the _Lyonesse_ bucked visibly alongside as she rode the tempest rising from below. The ship's sails opened out to full stretch, ballooning out in the wind, their circuits flickering into life as they began channelling energy from the core's rebirth.

"Was this part of the plan, Delbert?" Amelia joined him, watching in a mix of wonder and horror.

"Er, I suppose it's possible I underestimated the amount of stellar material in the _Black Knight_ 's fuel cells," said Doppler, staring at the roiling inferno below.

There was a deep, booming rumble, audible even over the howling star, as the _Lyonesse_ 's main drives awoke from slumber, drawing on the energy now blazing through her billowing sails. The exhausts flared blue with plasma as the battlecruiser's powerful engines were relit.

"She's caught the wind," Amelia said quietly. "She's getting ready to leave."

Doppler opened his mouth to say something, but there was a sudden, sharp crack of wood above them as the beam to which the jackstay's mounting had been bolted began to give way and the longboat began sliding, scraping across the docking port floor and out through the entrance. Amelia didn't hesitate. Doppler felt her hands suddenly gripping him by the belt and collar, and then felt his feet leave the ground. Amelia always had been far stronger than her slender build implied, and Doppler experienced only a moment of confused disorientation before he thudded down onto solid timbers and felt himself roll into the crumpled mass of a tarpaulin. Ignoring the bruising, he shook his head and tried to scramble to his feet, tripping over a boathook as he did so. A lurching pitch threw him off-balance, sending him painfully to his knees as he clasped the gunwales to steady himself. He was in the longboat, looking back at the _Black Knight_ to where Amelia stood alone in the disintegrating docking port. It seemed even further away now, and the reason why was soon obvious as another sickening lurch put another metre or two between the tiny craft and the port.

"Amelia..."

He reached out to her, as if there was any hope of closing the distance. A gust of wind caught the longboat, jerking it around again. There was a creak of the jackstay straining under the pressure, and the sound of breaking wood. Amelia looked up and saw the cable mooring starting to pull free of the solid beam into which it had been bolted. Eyes narrowing, she looked again at the longboat, mentally calculating distances and angles as she discarded her weapons belt and threw aside her heavy blue uniform coat. And then she started to run.

"Ame-" Doppler gasped as he saw her leave the docking port in a graceful jump, hurling herself out into the storm. He dived forward again, flinging out a hand to catch her. Miraculously, impossibly, she seemed to be covering the distance. Doppler lunged for her desperately. Behind her, the cable mooring finally gave way and broke. No longer anchored at one end, the jackstay jerked back towards the ship, flailing madly. The sudden change of direction took Doppler by surprise even as his fingers closed, and – too late – he realised that they hadn't closed on Amelia. The longboat had moved too far away, thrown back by the recoil of the breaking cable. She thrust out a hand to reach his, but missed by more than a metre as she fell past him. Staring in horror, Doppler saw a flash of green eyes pass underneath the boat, and then she was gone, vanishing out of sight in the storm.

"Amelia! Amelia!" He tried to lean out of the longboat to see where she had gone, but the movement threatened to overturn it completely and he drew back, numb with terror, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

"Oh, gods, no..." Aurora, watching in horror from the bridge of the _Lyonesse_ , saw it happen and heard Doppler screaming. She felt her heart stop and her blood run cold.

"Prepare to haul in the jackstay!" Rennier shouted. "Get that longboat back on board! Mr Macpherson, engine status?"

"Engines at full power, sir!" Macpherson looked up from his console. "Maximum thrust ready at your discretion!"

"Very good!" Rennier turned to Aurora. "Navigator! Prepare to initiate escape!"

"I can't, sir! The longboat will be caught in our wake! He'll be killed for sure!" Aurora was still watching, eyes wide and fearful. It had been blown around to the flagship's starboard quarter, bucking and rolling in the wind. She could make out Doppler's frantic figure clinging to it as he tried to look over its side. "We have to get him back on board first!"

"Sir!" Midshipman Collis was shouting and pointing at something over the side. "It's the Admiral!"

Aurora looked again. Behind the longboat, the last few metres of the severed jackstay were whipping wildly, twisting like an angry snake across the tortured sky. But right at the end of it, there was a shape hanging on for grim death.

"Amelia!" Doppler saw her too, in a confused moment as the movement of longboat and cable brought them into view of each other. His heart leapt, but there was no ignoring the danger she was in. He reached instinctively for the boathook and swung it up and around. By sheer luck, he caught the trailing line on the first attempt and began hauling it in. Amelia was climbing her way up the cable inch by inch, her hair flying in the wind her as she clawed hand over to hand towards the precarious safety of the boat and the pole which Doppler had lowered towards her. He felt a jolt as she had seized hold of it. He gritted his teeth and braced his feet against the sides as he put all his strength into one last effort.

"Come...on...damn...you!"

He went over backwards, the boathook clattering from his grasp as he crashed into the longboat's mast. Shaking his head to clear the starbursts behind his eyes, he looked up in time to see Amelia hauling herself over the edge of the boat and dropping into it.

"Amelia!"

"Delbert," Her hair was wild, her eyes were wide, and the only sign of her exalted rank was the red silk sash she wore under the coat she'd left behind, but there was no mistaking the grin she flashed him.

"Amelia...oh, my gods, you...you utterly impossible feline! Don't you ever do anything like that ever again! For a moment there, I thought I'd -"

Amelia laughed as he flung himself towards her and held her close. "Oh, I'm afraid you're stuck with me for a while yet, my dear."

"Yes, but I really did think that you were-"

"Hush." Amelia touched a fingertip to his lips. "Later. I promise. But right now, we rather need to get back to my flagship."

"I think they're just working on that now." Doppler looked back to where spacers were lining the side of the _Lyonesse_ and grappling with the cable. Amelia stood up in the longboat, sure-footed despite its tossing and turning, and cupped her hands around her mouth.

"Ahoy, there, _Lyonesse_!"

"Ahoy, there, Admiral! We're bringing you on board!" Rennier waved his hat in acknowledgement and turned to Aurora. "Turn the ship and bring them into our lee!"

"Aye, sir!" Grinning with relief, Aurora hurried to her console and began keying in commands. Doppler and Amelia watched as the big warship's manoeuvring thrusters fired, turning her on the spot to try to use her sheer size to provide a measure of shelter to the vulnerable little longboat. The ceaseless buffeting of the wind seemed to lessen, though Doppler still didn't feel confident enough to try standing. Amelia, however, was on her feet in the bows, apparently careless of the gale. As they drew closer to the ship, a crewman tossed an additional rope across to them. She caught it and made it fast to the bow cleat before she stood again and waved a hand.

"Haul away, there!"

"Come on, lads!" The petty officer commanding the assembled spacers roared. "Don't leave the Admiral waiting there! Heave!"

It seemed to take a small eternity to reach the _Lyonesse,_ and Doppler breathed a sigh of relief when the wood of the longboat scraped up against the flagship's railing. He stood shakily and went to disembark, gratefully accepting the helping hands that reached up to aid him. It wasn't until he had both feet flat on the deck that he dared feel safe for the time being. But if Amelia was at all fazed by her brush with certain death, she wasn't showing it. As soon as she disembarked, dropping neatly to the quarterdeck without any assistance, she was taking stock of the situation and heading for the bridge, acknowledging the salutes of the officers and giving an economical nod of thanks to the petty officer supervising the jackstay crew.

"Welcome back on board, ma'am," Rennier grinned, touching his hat to her.

"Thank you, Captain," Amelia returned the salute calmly. "Is the ship prepared?"

"All standing by, ma'am. And there's more than enough power to break orbit."

"Then it's time we made our exit." Amelia nodded to Aurora. "Get us out of here, Ms Mayflower."

"Aye, ma'am!" Aurora hoped that her smile was enough to convey her happiness at seeing Amelia safe and sound, but the urgency of the moment prevented her from saying more. "Helm! Switch to gyrocompass and come to port, new heading three-one-five!"

"Gyrocompass engaged! Port three-one-five, aye!" The helmsman span the wheel. Hastening up the steps to the bridge, Doppler heard the masts and rigging creak as they turned in the wind.

"Bow positive zero-four degrees!" Aurora shouted. "Engines, all ahead full!"

"Up zero-four, all ahead full, aye!"

Doppler had felt the _Lyonesse_ 's main drive at full thrust before, but only after she had worked up to it. A deep-throated roar came through the planks as the engines engaged and he stumbled over the top step as the ship leapt forwards from a standing start, energy coruscating through her sails.

"Watch the stress readings on the masts and yards!" shouted Rennier. "And watch the voltage in the primary circuits! Do _not_ let the breakers trip!"

"We're close to maximum even with all the capacitors active, sir!" said Lieutenant Macpherson.

"Dump power into the auxiliaries if you have to! But keep the main engines online even if it means melting the conduits!" Rennier held his hat onto his head and looked up at the sails as they burned like fire.

"Status report, Ms Mayflower!" Amelia shouted.

"Steady on course, ma'am! Thrust steady!" Aurora was gripping the top of her console. "Acceleration holding! We're at seventy percent escape velocity and climbing!"

The _Lyonesse_ 's bowsprit had swung around and was now pointing out into clear space. Doppler looked behind them at the fiery surface of the star as they began powering away from it. His heart was racing in his chest, but now, at last, it seemed like their ordeal was over. And then the deck lurched under his feet.

"Acceleration dropping!" Aurora's voice took on a sudden tone of alarm. "Seventy-three percent escape velocity now! Seventy-one! Sixty-five!"

"What's going on, navigator?" demanded Amelia. "Are we losing the wind?"

"No, ma'am! Wind's holding strong! Power translation is steady from the sails!" Aurora looked around, her eyes wide.

"Thrust output still at 100%, ma'am," said Macpherson. "No problems reported from Engineering."

"I don't understand it," Aurora checked her controls frantically. "It's like there's something holding us back..."

Doppler swallowed nervously and raised a shaking finger to point. "Er...I think there is..."

Amelia was with him in an instant, raising a telescope to her eye. It took a moment for the instrument's filters to cut in and screen out the blinding light of the star, but then she saw it. The _Black Knight_ had come about and was now pointing at them, a black circle of shadow with a blazing blue iris at its centre.

"It's the tractor beam," breathed Doppler. "It's locked onto us."

"Sorensen's doing?" Amelia's eyes narrowed. "I knew I should have made sure that he wasn't still a threat..."

"I suppose it might be if he's alive and was able to get a look at Mr Kilroy's notes before," Doppler stared. "Or it could be some kind of automated system that's zeroed in on the high energy of our wake emissions. The ship _was_ built to mine stars, after all."

"Well, it doesn't matter." Amelia snapped the telescope closed. "Can we escape it? What's its maximum range?"

"I-I don't know." Doppler shook his head.

"Then we've no choice but to destroy it," said Amelia. She turned and raised her voice to the officers. "Load the starboard battery! Full charge and double-shot with high impact!"

"Can our shells even pierce its hull?" asked Doppler.

"I don't see any alternative to finding out," said Amelia. "If anyone else has any better ideas, I'm ready to hear them. But if not, I'll thank you all for carrying out my bloody orders! Mr Constantine! Load the damned guns!"

"Aye, ma'am! Permission to ready the starboard carronades as well?"

"Granted!" Amelia turned to Aurora. "Bring us about through one-eight-zero, navigator, and give the gun crews a clear shot."

"Through one-eight-zero, aye, ma'am!" Aurora's fingerstips danced across her control panel. "Helm, hard-a-port! Full rudder! All astern on port azimuths! And all hands, brace for incoming change of course and speed!"

Doppler felt the ship lurch as the bow suddenly pulled hard around to port, swinging across open space one moment and pointing back down towards the raging hellscape of the blazing core. For a moment he feared that they would plunge into the fiery depths, but then the thundering engines shoved the stern sideways and they were pointing back towards the _Black Knight_.

"Target's turning with us, ma'am!" shouted Pike.

"Good," snarled Amelia. "Then we'll ram our shells down its throat. Mr Constantine?"

"Starboard battery ready, ma'am. Guns run out, double-shotted and charged."

"Excellent," said Amelia. "Ms Mayflower, how close are we going to get to the _Black Knight_? Can you put us within pistol-shot?"

"That depends on whether she keeps moving, ma'am," said Aurora. "But it'll be _close_. Maybe as close as twenty metres. The tractor beam's still trying to pull us in."

" _Killing_ close," said Amelia, flashing a predatory grin. "Excellent. Mr Constantine? Stand by to fire as you bear. We've only got one chance to knock that thing out."

"Standing by, ma'am," Constantine watched the range counting down on his console. "We'll make it count."

Doppler looked out at the alien ship as they raced towards it. He wondered whether this would have to end in destruction, but then he knew it could end no other way. He watched the distance between the two ships narrow alarmingly fast and for a moment he feared a collision until he saw _Lyonesse_ 's bowsprit settling on course to pass just ahead of the _Black Knight_. Even so, it was close – so close that he could see every detail on the ancient, curved hull even before he moved to the corner of the bridge for a last view that saw straight down the tractor beam tunnel, glowing with unnatural blue light.

"Target entering our firing arcs in five...four...three...two..."

The end of Constantine's report was cut off by the sound of cannons as the starboard battery opened up at point blank range. The flagship had twenty heavy guns on each side, plus three large-bore carronades. Amelia's orders allowed them to fire independently as each gun crew saw the target, but they were passing it so quickly that their fire was almost simultaneous, a ripple of flame erupting down the _Lyonesse's_ flank. The starboard quarterdeck carronade was immediately below him and its blast left his ears ringing. And then they were gone, leaving the _Black Knight_ behind.

"I saw hits, ma'am!" shouted Constantine.

"Is it moving to follow us?" Amelia turned to look astern, but Doppler could already see that the damage had been done. Deep rents had been torn in the _Black Knight_ 's hull that now billowed green flames. The flagship's shells had struck deep into the ancient ship and torn out its heart. Even as Doppler watched, the forward half of the _Black Knight_ was wreathed in a crawling spiderweb of blue lightning from the wrecked tractor beam and an explosion in brilliant white light that he knew must have come from the generator room tore her in half. There were cheers from the gunners below as they celebrated the kill.

"We're free of the tractor beam, ma'am!" Aurora called.

"Very good! Resume escape course!" Amelia turned her back on the wreckage of the ancient ship and strode back to her place on the bridge.

"I can't, ma'am! We've fallen too close to the core!" Aurora shook her head. "We can't sail away from it – we'll have slingshot around it!"

"Then make it so!" Amelia waved to Doppler. "Doctor! Get in there and help her with the calculations!"

"Right!" Doppler hurried across the bridge, but Aurora was already hammering the numbers into her computer. He watched the numbers scrolling across the screen, his mind racing to keep up.

"Navigator!" Amelia shouted.

Aurora shook her head again. "It's taking too long to compute, ma'am! Captain, permission to take manual helm control?"

"Granted!" Rennier nodded.

"Thank you, sir! Doctor, take over here and give me the coordinates when they come through!" Aurora stepped away from her console and took the ship's wheel from the helmsman. She flexed her fingers experimentally around the spokes, and then set her eyes and gritted her teeth as she span it in her hands. The bow began moving in response as she piloted the ship deeper through the core's gravitational field by feel alone.

"I suggest a point or two to starboard!" Doppler shouted to her. "We'll have to pick up speed by letting the core pull us closer!"

"Starboard, aye, doctor!" Aurora turned the wheel, listening to the clicking of the gyrocompass repeater. A gust of wind took her hat off, but she didn't dare remove a hand from the helm to recover it. The sails billowed overhead, their white glow intensifying, and sparks flew from the bases of the masts.

"Power's surging as we get closer to the star, sir!" cried Macpherson. "Capacitors overloading!"

"Keep those circuits active!" Rennier ordered. "Turn the sails onto the port tack!"

"Doctor! The course!" Aurora appealed knowing that there was only so much she could achieve through instinct.

Doppler watched the console displays flash green. "It's done! Turn three and a half degrees to starboard, drop the bow two and then hold her steady!"

"Starboard three and a half, bow negative two and holding!" Aurora span the wheel and then braced herself, redoubling her grip. She could feel every movement of the rudder, every slip and buffet as the storm beat against it and she gritted her teeth with effort, knowing what a loss of control would mean as the ship plunged towards the star. Despite that fear, and despite her earlier insistence that she wasn't a natural spacer, part of her was almost enjoying this, the pure adrenaline thrill of acceleration and speed and the wind whipping in her hair. The core filled half the sky, great arches of incandescent gas erupting from its boiling surface and reaching out into space. Touching them would spell certain disaster for the canvas of the sails. One loomed up in front of them and Aurora desperately steered the _Lyonesse_ though the middle of the gap, so close to the blazing sheet of stellar fire that she felt a gust of heat against her face and it seemed as if she could reach out and touch it.

"Now hold this course!" Doppler gripped the console tightly as the wind rose. "We're still accelerating! Eighty-nine percent escape velocity! Ninety-four! Ninety-eight!"

Aurora grasped the spokes of the wheel so tightly that her fingers began to hurt. Her muscles strained at the effort of holding the wheel fast against the force of the wind on the rudder and she wondered herself whether she could keep the ship steady - until suddenly the pressure was removed. Turning her head, she saw that Amelia had taken hold of the other side of the wheel.

"Stand your ground, Ms Mayflower," Amelia said firmly. "We've got this."

Aurora smiled. "With your help, ma'am, I think we might."

"That's it!" Doppler looked up from the console, his face alight with excitement. "Escape velocity! Plus six percent! Plus seven! We've done it! Plus eight! And still rising!"

"I suggest we adjust to starboard, ma'am, and take some of this pressure off the rudder," Aurora suggested.

"That won't cost us speed?" Amelia raised an eyebrow.

"Not enough, ma'am," Aurora grinned triumphantly. "Nothing can stop us now."

Doppler glanced astern as the racing ship pulled away from the star and felt his heart lift. "She's right. Look, we're already getting further away."

"Distance from the core is two stellar miles and opening, ma'am," said Constantine, checking the gunnery rangefinders. Amelia sighed with relief and relaxed her grip on the wheel.

"Thank the stars for that," she said. "Helmsman? Take over here. Navigator? Back to your station and report."

"Aye, ma'am." Aurora stepped away to rejoin Doppler. He stood aside for her cheerfully and turned to smile at Amelia as she moved back to the middle of the bridge. Aurora tapped a series of commands into her console and smiled with relief as the results came up.

"We're out of the core's gravitational field, ma'am," she said. "Speed is dropping and I'm picking up crosswinds from the Fraser Current again. We're back into its flow and heading for its edge."

"Thank you, Ms Mayflower." Amelia said and looked to Rennier. "Well, Flag-Captain? Will you make it official, or shall I?"

"I think that honour should be all yours, ma'am," Rennier smiled. "The crew will be delighted."

Amelia nodded her thanks and picked up the speaking tube for the ship's tannoy. The address chime rang out before she began speaking, her voice clear and strong.

"Attention all hands: this is the Admiral speaking. We are clear of the core. I repeat, we are clear of the core. Well done, everyone."

The cheers had started all over the ship before she was able to replace the tube. Even the officers on the bridge joined in, whooping and clapping hands. Laughing with the sheer emotional release of their escape, Doppler embraced Amelia warmly – and she hugged him back, all propriety forgotten in the moment of jubilation – and turned to Aurora, who surprised him by impulsively flinging her arms around him and placing a kiss on his furry cheek before drawing back bashfully.

"Er, sorry, doctor. Oh, and...sorry, ma'am."

Amelia was grinning broadly as she watched them. "I think it can be forgiven under the circumstances, my dear navigator. That was magnificent work from both of you."

"I'm just glad it did what it was supposed to do." Doppler smiled awkwardly.

"Ludicrously effectively." Amelia smiled back and nodded to Aurora. "We'll hold this heading until we're clear of the Current, my dear navigator. Then plot us a course for home."

"My pleasure, ma'am." Aurora saluted.

"And Captain? Secure all stations. Reef sails and rig for cruising speed." Amelia turned to him and shook his hand. "Then bring me a status report in my cabin."

Rennier touched his hat. "As you wish, ma'am."

Amelia took Doppler's arm. "And perhaps you'd care to join me there now, doctor?"

Dopper bowed and smiled. "Thank you, Admiral. I'd love to."

* * *

Surgeon-Commander Gray was standing at the port quarterdeck rail by the carronade, looking back at the Fraser Current even though it was already too far to see the core that floated at its heart. Sergeant-Major Ko had joined her, and it would have taken very close observation indeed to detect the fact that the two were now standing slightly closer than they normally did.

"So much for that," Ko remarked to break the silence.

Gray nodded and flipped open a new page in her notebook to reply. THANKFULLY.

"Good thing you had that magazine with you, with the article about magnetic fields messing with people's heads, though," said Ko.

IT'S CALLED A JOURNAL. AND A MAGNETIC COMPASS WAS WHAT PROVIDED THE VITAL INSIGHT.

Ko shrugged, grinning at the way the surgeon wrinkled her nose. "Sorry, doc. But still, we might still be stuck there if it wasn't for you, all of us slowly going mad."

Gray considered it before writing again. I LIKE TO THINK THAT SOMEONE WOULD HAVE FIGURED IT OUT EVENTUALLY.

"One can only hope so, ma'am." Ko shook her head. "It's too bloody horrible to think about the alternative. And I suppose you'll be writing an article for the _Annals of Fleet Medicine_ now yourself, right? Confirmation of that one you dug up? Quite a discovery, I'd say. Might even be a medal in it for you."

YES, Gray agreed.

Ko paused for a moment, gathering her courage to broach the real reason for her having initiated this conversation. "So...about what happened between us in the sick bay the other night...when I found you..."

Gray felt uncharacteristically uncomfortable. YES?

"Do you think...well, did the star have anything to do with that? Influencing us, I mean?"

IT'S HIGHLY LIKELY, Gray noted. IT WOULD HAVE AFFECTED OUR BEHAVIOUR AT THE SUBCONSCIOUS LEVEL. WE MAY NOT HAVE EVEN BEEN AWARE OF IT.

"Right." Ko nodded and turned her head as if inspecting the carronade. "I suppose that explains why we...well..."

YES.

"Kind of like how the Admiral's not going to hang Patricker now, because he wasn't responsible for his actions on the mess deck."

RIGHT. Gray kept her gaze fixed out into space.

"So neither of us could be held responsible for-"

Gray nodded. Just once.

Ko cleared her throat before continuing.

"And, ma'am...that proposition...about moving in with you when we get back to Crescentia?" She swallowed nervously. "I'd...like to accept that, if it's still open."

OF COURSE. Gray tried not to look relieved. Ko didn't bother.

"Thank you."

YOU DON'T NEED TO.

"So you say, ma'am." Ko smiled. "Won't stop me trying, though."

YOU'RE INCORRIGIBLE.

"Only for good causes, ma'am."

Gray rolled her eyes, but there was a sparkle of amusement in them.

THAT SAID, THERE HAS BEEN ONE OTHER RECENT DISCOVERY WORTH NOTING.

"Oh? What's that, ma'am?" Ko looked around at her. The surgeon's head was lowered as she wrote and her face was obscured by the tall white collar of her coat. Gray tore the page out of her notebook, folded it and pressed it into Ko's hand, turning to leave as she did so. Ko caught a glimpse of dark green eyes and went to stop her, but she was already gone. Puzzled, Ko opened her hand to read the note that Gray had given her. It took her several seconds to open the careful folds in the paper and read the words they hid.

"Oh, doc..." Ko whispered. She whirled around, but Gray had already vanished below decks. Ko shook her head and smiled wryly.

"I never figured you for the romantic type," she murmured. "But you always have to get the last word in somehow, don't you?"

* * *

Doppler stood in Amelia's cabin, gazing out the stern gallery windows, lost in thought. The Fraser Current's distant haze was barely visible against the backdrop of the etherium as the _Lyonesse_ turned for home in the glow of the morning light. Amelia and Rennier were talking about various technical matters across the conference table, and he'd tuned out, knowing it was best to leave such things to them. Besides, after the chaos of the last hour or so – or was it even less? – it felt good to have a moment just to catch his breath and get his thoughts in order. He was so engrossed in this process that he didn't even notice when the conversation stopped and gave way to an expectant pause.

"Doctor?"

He started as his wife's voice recalled him from his reverie. "Hm? What? I mean, yes?"

Amelia grinned. "We were just wondering whether there would be any lasting effect on the ship's systems from exposure to the core's magnetic fields."

"Oh. I see." Doppler thought for a second. "Well, your magnetic compasses will need recalibrating, of course, but the rest of the navigational system and everything else of importance should have be shielded from interference. You won't know for sure until you check your entire electrical system, but you should be able to de-gauss anything that's been affected. The Chief Engineer would be able to tell you more."

"Excellent." Amelia smiled. "Though I'm sorry to have interrupted you. You're clearly thinking about something."

Doppler chuckled. "Yes. Well, I was thinking of many things, but I suppose...why is it that every time we come across an irreplaceable piece of Forefather technology, we end up destroying it? We barely scratched the surface of the _Black Knight_ and we already learned so much..."

Amelia nodded. "I'm not insensitive to that...but when I think about the use that Flint and his pirates made of Treasure Planet's portal network...exploiting that miracle to rape and pillage their way across the universe...maybe it's not such a bad thing that the Forefathers' secrets are safe for a little longer. I don't think the galaxy is ready for them just yet."

"Yes. Perhaps you're right." Doppler smiled sadly.

"It's the core that I'm worried about," said Rennier. "I don't much like the idea of that thing wandering through the middle of the Empire, destroying peoples' minds as it goes. What would happen if it got drawn into the orbit of an inhabited world? It hardly bears thinking about."

"Oh, you needn't worry about that, Captain," said Doppler. "The orphan core is firmly in the pull of the Fraser Current. In a year or two, it'll fall into the black hole at Van Ryen's Point and be destroyed."

"Even so," said Amelia, "We must do what we can to keep people away from it in the meantime. We'll update the shipping advisory notice for the Fraser Current, and establish an exclusion zone around the core itself. And when we get back to headquarters, I'll see if we can spare the resources to put a guardship there to enforce it."

"I think that would be a good idea," said Doppler. "You know, normally it's sad when something unique in nature is destroyed but in this case...perhaps it's for the best as well."

"I can only agree with you, doctor." Rennier nodded. "If you'll excuse me, Admiral, I'll contact Commander Vendross about the electrical systems. A full diagnostic check will take days, so the sooner we start..."

"Of course, Captain. Thank you." Amelia smiled.

As Rennier left, closing the cabin door behind him, she stood and went to join Doppler at the window. Her hand found his and their fingers entwined. He looked down at her and took a deep, happy breath as he enjoyed the sight. It wasn't just that she looked unusually magnificent in the gold-encrusted blue and white of the dress uniform coat she was wearing in place of the plainer duty uniform she'd lost on the _Black Knight,_ nor even the rows of decorations that glittered on her chest in testament to past valour. It was something more fundamental than that. There seemed to be a lot that he wanted to say – and yet he was so content with the silence and peace of her presence that it was Amelia who broke the spell and spoke first.

"Are you feeling all right, my dear?" she asked. "You haven't touched your drink."

Doppler looked around guiltily at the desk, where a mug of Calydonian coffee was stagnating. "Er...no. Sorry. It's...not really my cup of tea."

"It's not really tea at all," Amelia said. "More's the pity. But you are all right, aren't you? I hope that ear's not too sore."

Doppler touched his floppy ear gingerly where Sorensen's knife had cut it. "It'll mend. And the headache's gone, too, ever since we got out of the core's magnetic field. So Dr Gray was right about that. And...er...are you..."

"Yes." Amelia looked at her reflection in the mirror and nodded, giving a small smile as she rested her head against his shoulder, enjoying how the frame of the window made it look like a couple's portrait. "Perfectly. Thank you. For everything."

"Oh, well, the astrophysics was fairly straightforward and Aurora was the one who did the observations. And Mr Kilroy did most of the engineering work. Besides, I should be thanking you for saving my life back on the _Black Knight_. Twice."

"Not the science. Well, not _just_ that." Amelia held his hand. "Though your contribution to the effort was greater than you seem to acknowledge. But also for keeping me sane. I thought I was losing my mind."

"But you weren't," said Doppler. "And besides, I thought I lost _you_. When you missed the longboat after you jumped-"

"I know. And I'm so sorry that I scared you." Amelia said softly.

"Weren't _you_ scared?"

"Given the situation, I'm not sure that I had the time to be scared," Amelia gave a wry look. "All in a day's work, you might say."

"Then I'm even more glad that I never joined the Navy," Doppler joked.

Amelia chuckled. "I think you'd have done just fine. You've always had a stronger heart than you've ever given yourself credit for."

Doppler blushed. "Oh, Amelia...well, I'm still glad you're all right."

"I'd have questions to ask if you weren't," grinned Amelia. "But...so am I. We have so much to look forward to after we return."

"The children," Doppler smiled.

"The children." Amelia kissed him. "I've missed them so. How long do you think it'll take to get back?"

Doppler shrugged. "Well, I'd need to ask Aurora for her calculations. But I'd estimate perhaps a fortnight or a little bit more. Not too long."

"Not too long at all." Amelia smiled contentedly. "Though I must say...I'm dying for a proper cup of tea..."

 _\- The End -_

 _With thanks to all readers, reviewers and megers67_


End file.
